Never Make Assumptions
by TealyBob
Summary: Caroline makes a deal with Klaus in order to get the missing Tyler from him, and now she has to act like his girlfriend. The only problem is that his charm and loving nature towards her is starting to kill the act. Lovely banner by IgnitingFireworks
1. The Deal

It had been five months, five long months without Tyler. Caroline knew that he was away trying to conquer his transfixions. But it had been over one hundred days with no calls, or texts, or news of any kind from Tyler. She had been worried when he'd first left, frightened after a couple months, suspicious after month number four, and now, the fifth month, just plain mad. She had completely been convinced that someone forced Tyler to leave, and is holding him captive. And given the circumstances, Klaus 'fancying her' and having already been in control over Tyler, Caroline was sure that Klaus was behind it all.

Having made up her mind, she got in her car and raced down to the mansion Klaus was living in.

It was a cool day, and it looked like it was going to rain. She had graduated from school a while ago, and was now free to do whatever, whenever. She had been planning on going to college; that was, before she was a vampire. Now, if she went to a school or anything, she'd been there for over four years, and by the end of it: she would look exactly the same as she did the first day. So, to avoid any suspicions, she planned to keep a low profile (for the first time in her life), and move away as soon as she reaches the age where she _should_ be changing.

But that didn't matter right now; what mattered was that she confronts Klaus and gets Tyler back.

Klaus looked up from his paper, slightly amused as he heard the sound of tires grinding and slide on gravel as they came to a halt right outside his house. He placed his stencils and paper down on his desk and walked out of his room and into the hallway, just in time to hear the door slam shut.

"Klaus!" Caroline yelled, not thinking through what she was doing. All she really knew was that Klaus had Tyler somewhere and was mostly likely torturing him, and she was going to end it.

Klaus, having recognized the high pitched, angry voice, smirked. He strode over to the top of the stairs that led down to the entry room, and stopped. "Yes sweetheart?" he called back, making her look around. He heard the clicking of her heals as she walked around.

"Alright," she called. "Where the hell are you?" she demanded, giving up because she knew she'd never find him in this huge house, even with her vampire senses.

Klaus flew down the stairs, immediately catching sight of her blonde head. He smirked harder and silently stalked up behind her, smelling the flowery scent in her curly hair. In her presence, he forgot to say anything to let her know he was there.

"Klaus!" she hollered again, making him jump at and annoy him because of the random loud noise.

"There's no need to shout, love," he murmured against the shell of her ear. She whirled around, gasping out of shock. She stepped back a couple of paces and glared at him. Her scowl was so intense that Klaus had to laugh at her. "You know, you really do look better when you're smiling," he commented.

"Where is he?" Caroline snapped, getting straight to the point and ignoring his input.

"And who might you be referring to?" he asked calmly.

"Don't play dumb with me," she warned, lifting a finger to point at him. "You have Tyler," she informed him.

Klaus raised his eyebrows in further amusement. "And what makes you think that?"

Caroline coughed in an exasperated way. "Where else would he be? He hasn't returned any of my calls, and he disappeared right at the time that you started hitting on me!" she explained, getting more fired up every second. "So just stop! You have absolutely no right to come to Mystic Falls, kidnap my boyfriend, and then try to buy my affection while you act like you have nothing to do with Tyler! All while ruining all my friends' lives and killing innocent people all over the world!" she preached, finally stopping and taking a breath.

Klaus crossed his arms while listening, making it look like he really did care. He started at her enraged face while thinking. Then suddenly, he took an audible intake of breath as he looked down at his feet and took a few steps towards her.

"Alright," he started, coming to a halt in front of her. He looked up into her eyes with a serious look. "You want you precious little doggy back, I understand that," he said, nodding. Then he leaned in and whispered, "But what are you going to do for me?"

Caroline raised her eyebrows at his words. "You want me to do something for you….for Tyler's freedom?" she repeated in dismay.

"Oh don't look so surprised, love. You had to have seen that coming."

It was true, Caroline had known that Klaus would force her to do something, or give him something in return for Tyler, but she had been praying that he would give them a break, just this once. Caroline sighed and rolled her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms as well.

Klaus stared at her for a moment, building up the unneeded tension. Then he leaned even closer, so they were merely inches apart and said in a low voice, "Stop being so resistant and give me a chance. You have to be excepting, grateful, and nice to me. Treat me like I'm one of your friends."

"You expect me to be grateful and nice to you while you go around ripping people's throats out?" she clarified. Klaus just stared at her, waiting for an answer. Caroline huffed, "You're unbelievable," and shook her head and looked off.

Suddenly an idea hit Klaus. A cocky one, yes, but one that would kill her…metaphorically. "Alright, love. I'll _pretend _to be nice…if you pretend to be my girlfriend."

Caroline turned her head slowly to face him completely as she had before. Her eyes were big and her mouth was slightly open. How could he even ask that? Where did it come from? Caroline spoke quickly, "I'll be nice, and polite, and I'll even pretend I don't want to claw your eyes out for Tyler's freedom. But if you think for a second that I'm going to pretend to be attracted to you, or be your 'darling', you've obviously lost your mind," she finished, giving him a sincere look.

Klaus smirked, even though he was actually quite disappointed. "Good, then I can continue to eat people and you cannot yell at me for it," he informed her, making it seem like this was to his advantage.

Caroline opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was little choking noises, obviously being at a loss of words. Klaus raised his eyebrows, coaxing her to speak. Part of him knew she was reconsidering, and he was happy with that; but part of him also hoped she would decline again. He couldn't just stop feeding, that would be truly impossible for him.

If Caroline had been thinking, she would have said yes to his offer, freeing Tyler, saving thousands of innocent people from Klaus' hand, and torturing Klaus with the blood frenzy he would have had to endure, and only have to give up her love life for a while. However, Caroline would not give in to the idea of expressing affection onto this murderer. The thought of even liking him scared her. She wouldn't know what she would do if she even became allies with him; so fake boyfriend was completely out of the question.

"Fine! Continue to be….you!" she exclaimed, relaxing Klaus completely and making her happy she had made a decision. "Do whatever you want, Klaus. Just give me Tyler."

Klaus turned around and headed to the stairs he had descended earlier with a skip in his walk as he answered, "Nope. Doesn't work like that, sweetheart." He took a step up the stairs and turned around.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline enraged, growing overly annoyed and confused as to how it could possibly 'not work like that'. "We made a deal! I'm nice to you and you hand over Tyler!"

Klaus sighed like she should already know how this works. "Yes, but you have to hold up your side of the deal-"

"As do you!-"

"But I don't believe you will fully participate on your end of the bargin," he continued over her.

"What are you saying? That you don't trust me? If anyone should not be trusted here…" she stopped short, realizing that Klaus could indeed be trusted if you carefully pick out the way he words everything he makes a bet on.

Klaus, feeling like he would let her go with the unfinished sentence, continued like he hadn't heard that last sentence she started. "I'm saying that I will give you your Tyler when your being civilized with me is no longer an act. And if you can't accept those terms," he added, holding up a finger as she started to protest, "then I shall continue to torture Tyler for as long as his week hybrid heart can tolerate," Klaus threatened.

"But even if I am 'civilized' with you, you'll still hold him captive and drain the life out of him!" Caroline confronted.

"Wrong. I will hold him captive, yes, but I will not touch him," he corrected.

Caroline glared at his calm face and, having made up her mind as she had before she came here, put on the most sarcastic smile she could muster and waved stiffly at him as she said, "See you later,_ Buddy_." And with that, she turned on her heel and exited the house.


	2. The Date

Two days later, Klaus decided to see just how nice Caroline could act out of the blue. He sat at a table full of papers of the town he had been going through when he saw the name Forbes, and she came to mind. He walked over to a counter in the room and picked up his phone. He had her contact in his phone, having taken it from Stefan's mobile. He hit call on her name and ignored the very faint jump in his stomach as he listened to the wringer to off over, and over, and-

"Hello?" her sweet voice spoke came out of the speaker.

"Caroline!" Klaus exclaimed in a chipper voice. "How lovely to hear your voice," he chimed.

"How did you get this number?" she growled in a low tone. Her voice had gone from sweet to deadly in a matter of seconds.

"Stefan was obliged and handed it over," he lied.

"Oh, did he now?"

Klaus took a pause. "In a way. Anyway, I was phoning you to see if you'd like to meet me tonight for a drink or two," he offered.

"Hmm, as much fun as that sounds, I have to decline," she answered in a fake disappointed way. "But thank you for offering."

"Oh what a shame," Klaus pitied, shifting in his place. "I guess I'll have to find some other way to entertain myself tonight," he started.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry you'll be bored tonight, Klaus; it's just that I have better plans. Sorry."

That crossed the line. "Oh, that's quite alright. Because, you see, I bought myself many different, painful weapons awhile back, and I've just been dying to try them out. And lucky for me, I've got a willing hybrid with me that I would love to test them out on…" Klaus dragged out.

"Fine, Klaus! Let's 'have a drink', or whatever. Just…stop," she pleaded.

"Great. Well, be at my house around nine, and wear something…" he dragged out the last note while thinking. "Spontaneous," he finished, smiling and hanging up.

"I cannot believe he is forcing me to go to his house. Just who does he think he is?" Caroline rambled, going through her closet as she searched for something to wear. Bonnie was on her bed being forced to listen to every complaint that came to Caroline's head. "I'm starting to think," Caroline continued, "that making this bet with him just opened up the opportunity for Klaus to mentally torture me. I had to cancel my plans with you for tonight because he wanted me to-"

"We didn't have plans for tonight," Bonnie tried to correct, but Caroline just talked over her.

"-Go to his place so he could fawn over me while I beg him for something he's never going to give me," she mumbled, pushing a blue vest on a hanger to the side to examine a green blouse.

"Well if you know Klaus isn't going to give you Tyler, why make a bet with him?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline sighed and slowly turned around. "Because I have to try," she said a lot quieter than before. "I can't just sit back while Tyler dies in Klaus's clutches."

Bonnie looked at her fingers, thinking about what she could do to help. She could sneak into Klaus' house to look for Tyler, but she would surely be caught…but not if Klaus were distracted…

"I have an idea," Bonnie said mysteriously, "but you're going to have to be brave and very entertaining…"

Klaus had gotten out his favorite whine and had made about half a gallon of bloody-marry. He was planning on warming up to Caroline, getting her drunk enough to spill details about her. He was wearing his favorite, skin-tight, long sleeved shirt with a dark, old, leather-strapped necklace with a coin on it around his neck. His pants were just regular jeans, with worn tennis shoes. He stood looking into the fire he had started, and grew excited as he awaited Caroline.

"Ready?" Caroline checked with Bonnie in the car before pushing the door open and stepping out. She walked to the front door while Bonnie started walking around the corner of the house. Caroline watched the door as she took a breath and knocked four times roughly on the glazed wood.

Klaus walked to the door with a smirk that would not be taken off easily. But as he opened the door the smirk was replaced with disbelief and interest as he saw what the blonde before him was dressed.

Slick, blue, baggy pants hung around her legs and bunched at the bottom as they rested on fluffy shoes. She was wearing a skin tight, black tank-top, and her hair was up in a messy bun.

"You're wearing pajamas?" he stated obviously, as if checking with her to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Well," she sang, stepping past him into the warm house, "you did say to wear something spontaneous," she said matter-of-factly.

He gave her an 'oh, really?' look as he flicked his wrist, sending the door shut, and dropped his arm lazily to his side. "Well, if this is a pajama party, allow me to join."

Caroline frowned. Klaus crossed his arms and gripped the hem of his shirt, and in one swift movement had it over his head and flung to the side. Caroline subconsciously raked his firm body with her eyes, slightly opening her mouth. "Please," he said as he kicked off his shoes and socks, "make yourself comfortable." he motioned to the living room, knowing what was going on in her mind.

Caroline snapped out of the daydreams she was having and looked back to Klaus' face. She too slipped her slippers off and walked into the big sitting room with nothing on her feet.

"Nice place," she commented, heading for a large chair. "A little big for my taste," she said, lowering herself into the plush chair. "But nice," she finished.

She heard Klaus take a sharp intake of breath, like he was hissing. "Yeah…you can't sit there. It's sort of my place," he informed her, shrugging. He stood next to a table, watching her.

"But I'm a guest. You should be polite to me."

"Caroline, sweetheart," he addressed, making her feel sick, "that's my spot. Now get out of it, or else," he warned.

Caroline relaxed further into the chair and rested her arms on the sides. "Or else what?" she tried.

"Or else it will be pretty crammed when I sit down on top of you," he threatened.

"Wow, real mature," she said back, not moving a muscle.

Klaus shrugged. "I may be old, but I can act as childish as I like," he retorted, and in a flash he was in front of her. He placed his hands on her wrists to support his upper body as he leaned in on the blonde. He stared straight into her eyes, and she stared back, ignoring the fact that his bare chest was coming closer to her every second. His breathing was so low that if Caroline listened hard enough she could have sworn he was making a growling type noise as he exhaled.

She felt his faint breath on her face as he spoke. "I'll give you five seconds to reconsider," he murmured. She raised her eyebrows in a daring way.

"One," Klaus started, shifting his weight above her onto his other hip. Still, Caroline didn't move.

"Two," he continued.

"You won't do it," she informed him, as if she knew for a fact.

"Three," he said, staring into her green eyes.

"It's 'below you'," she mocked.

"Four," he whispered, drawing out the 'f'.

"No matter how childish you try to act, nothing will come between you and your pride. Therefore, you won't do it."

Klaus stopped counting. He seemed to be considering her words. Then, the corner of his mouth twitched upward as he looked down at her body. He lightly grazed his lip with his tongue.

"Caroline, darling…you're absolutely right." He looked back up to her eyes. "Sitting on you would be very rude. And I'm a gentleman. Am I not?"

Caroline huffed. "Only to an extent," she sneered.

"Well then, shall we settle this like adults?" He raised his eyebrows in suggestion.

In a split second, Caroline was off the chair and sitting, instead, on Klaus' lap. He was relaxing like a king in the chair with Caroline sitting sideways on top of him, with her legs over the arm of the chair.

"There," Klaus said, "two birds with one stone." He gave her a sideways glance as she started flailing to get up off his lap and onto her feet again. She mad many different moans of irritation and annoyance as she finally got to her feet and whirled around to glare at Klaus. He had a giant smirk on his face while he tried not to chuckle at her panic. "Or three…"

Her glare was cut off as she pulled her head back and gave him an 'Are You Insane' look. "What?" she breathed in confusion as she shook her head.

"Three birds, Caroline. One, I get to sit where I want to sit. Two is the same as one, just with your name intact. And three, our relationship just got better," he explained, staring up at her.

"How the hell did our 'relationship' just get better?" she demanded. But then she held her hands up and shook her head again. "_What_ relationship?"

Klaus didn't answer her question. He merely made a face that said 'be nice'.

Caroline growled in frustration and stomped her foot as she turned to the long leather couch diagonal to the chair that Klaus just forced her out of. Klaus couldn't help but laugh a little at how _childish_ she could act. He at least had to put effort into it.

She flopped down in the sofa on her side, laying down and taking up the entire length. She stared at the fire while she moved her arm to support her head. She looked like she could just go to sleep there, already in pajamas and everything. All she needed was for someone to hold her…

"I was promised a drink!" she exclaimed suddenly, sitting up and snapping herself out of that horrible thought of even letting Klaus touch her.

"Ah, yes," he sang, hopping up from the chair and walking over to a table on the far end of the room. "Do you drink wine?" he asked.

"I guess I do now," she replied, knowing that it didn't matter either way. She thought a few moments, the decided it would be less embarrassing for her if she told him that yes, she did indeed drink wine, quite often too. That way she wouldn't look like she was completely missing out in life. "Yes, Klaus. I drink wine."

She heard the sound of liquid being poured and glasses clinking. Then footsteps approaching once more. She tore her eyes away from the fire and looked up to Klaus' half naked body. He carefully held down a half full glass of some sort of red juice.

"Bloody marry," he answered her unspoken question. She took it and held it to her lips to smell, not yet taste. The smell, however, made her crave it. And carefully, she took a sip. Klaus smiled and gently sat down next to her.

Caroline looked up from her glass with disbelief. "You're not going to sit in your chair?"

Klaus sighed and put his arm on the back of the couch around Caroline. "No. I thought it would be more delightful sitting next to you," he tried to charm.

She gave him a fake smile and scooted over on the sofa a little ways. Klaus cocked his head and followed her down the couch. She continued to move until she reached the end, but still, Klaus followed, cornering her at the end of the line.

"Ok, what are you, twelve?" Caroline snapped.

"You were playing along too, sweetheart," he answered. She thought that conversation was done, but then he continued. "Why do people always use the age 'twelve'? That was a great age," he complained, looking off to the side in though. Caroline let out a quiet, exaggerated moan and took a regular sized swig of the drink in her hands, which is a lot when you're on only your second sip. This was going to be a long night.

Bonnie had managed to get into the house and downstairs to the basement without making any sort of noise. She had come across three empty cells that looked like they hadn't been touched for a long time. This house was a lot like the Salvatore's. Big, with an unneeded cell in the basement where they could lock up captives.

Half of Bonnie wanted to fine Tyler and save him, but another part of her was terrified to look into every cell she passed for the fear that she would find him, bloody, broken, torn apart, and hanging from the ceiling. But Caroline was taking a risk, so she had to suck it up and deal with the fear.

Caroline was taking a huge risk, being in a room with a serial killer. One that was in love with her and wouldn't touch a hair on her head, harmfully, that is. In fact, he would protect her. She's probably safer with him than she is in her own house. So really, Bonnie was down here looking for a limp, smelly, rotting, half dead body (no offence, Tyler), while Caroline gets praised by a hot, wise, charming vampire.

But that wasn't important at all right now. She had to find Tyler.

There was a long hallway ahead of her, and tons of what looked like creaky doors…this was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>TealyBob (Author): Sorry it's taking me so long, but the next chapter WILL be up SOON! Like, tomorrow or the next day. Thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! It helps loads!<p> 


	3. The Addition to the Deal

"And that's when you start to get harder thing to work on in your schooling. Oh! And that's when people normally start to become a little more adult looking-" Klaus rambled.

"Ok!" Caroline interrupted, finally. "That's enough about the age twelve! Just stop talking!" she scolded, taking yet another drink from her glass. It was almost empty now, and as the last few drops rolled into her mouth, Klaus smirked. It was working already.

"Care for another?" Klaus offered.

Caroline stared at the glass like she couldn't believe she had drunk all of that already. She placed the glass on the table next to her and held her hands out, as if to stop something coming towards her. "No. No that is enough alcohol for me, thank you."

"If you ever feel for another, let me know," he urged, taking a drink from his own. Caroline watched the fire intently, trying to keep calm. Something was making her shaky. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the fact that Bonnie was just downstairs, and Klaus might sense her at any minute. Maybe it was the fact that Klaus was leaning uncomfortably close, with no shirt on.

It was silent for a few minutes as Caroline tried to keep calm and steady. Klaus took a sip from his glass and studied the side of her face. Random wisps of hair hung around her face from where they had fallen out of her bun. There were goose bumps on her arms, and Klaus noticed she was looking a bit pale.

He frowned. "Feeling alright, love?" he asked, stroking her arm with the back of his fingers lightly.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I was until you called me that." Klaus just kept looking at her, not completely convinced she was ok. His hand had stopped moving, but still remained on her arm. Caroline could feel the small bit of warmth coming of his fingers and refused the urge to lean into them. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just cold," she admitted, pulling her legs up to her chest and folding her arms around them.

"I could help with that," Klaus said mysteriously.

Caroline turned to give him a disgusted look, but saw that he was smiling and was only kidding. She, however, didn't smile back. She just looked around the room behind him. "Do you have a blanket or something?" she asked, knowing that he wouldn't have one anywhere close.

"No," he said, "but I do have a fire lit in front of us, and a couch that I could easily move forward," he offered, making her do the simple math.

She thought about it for a moment, but didn't find any way he could do something tricky in it. So she hopped up off the couch and waited for Klaus to do as he had hinted at. Which he did, with little to no effort. The couch was now as close to the fireplace as it could get without getting burned.

Klaus sat back down on the couch, in the middle, giving her some free space for the first time since she entered the house. Caroline sat in the same place she had been previously, clear up against the arm of the couch, away from him. He must have noticed, because he sighed in a bit of annoyance and turned towards the fire completely.

"Relax, I'm not going to try anything fancy," he reassured her.

Caroline, knowing he was a man of his word, hesitated for a moment, but eventually eased up and placed her feet on the couch next to her.

Klaus watched her from the corner of his eye, and smiled when she let go of all her rigidness and sank into the back of the couch. He studied the curves of her legs as they slightly extended towards him, and her small feet. He noticed a silver chain on her ankle, and studied it without touching, in case of making her stiffen up again.

"Well, this is kind of awkward," Caroline commented after a few seconds of quietness. She looked sideways at Klaus, smirking as he too slowly looked up from what looked like her feet to face her.

She felt herself become a little red in the face as they locked eyes. Klaus turned himself on the couch to completely face her as he had before. "Well then, start talking," he instructed. He propped his arm up on the back of the couch and rested his head on his hand, looking completely interested and excited.

"Me? You're the host. You're supposed to do the talking," she said, frowning like he was crazy for not remembering.

"And what makes you so sure about that?"

"Because it's rude if you make me talk," she said, not entirely thinking her answer through.

"It's rude…to ask you to talk?" Klaus clarified. Caroline realized her answer didn't make sense, but stared straight ahead into the fire, not looking at him. "You do know that you've got it backwards-"

"I know what I meant!" Caroline spoke over him, trying to make this less weird for herself. Klaus chuckled and watched her as the corners of her mouth involuntarily started rising. She looked down to try to hide the smile, but Klaus chuckling next to her didn't help.

"See?" he started. "This isn't that bad," he tried to persuade her. "I'm really not that terrible, if you give me a chance."

Caroline looked up to his face. The smile slowly started to leave her lips. "No, that's just it, Klaus. You are that terrible," she corrected.

Klaus also stopped smiling. Things had actually been going well, until now.

"You kill people for pleasure. You ruin people's lives," she started to begin, but Klaus rolled his eyes in an exasperated way.

"Caroline, don't start lecturing me again." He downed the rest of the wine that was in his glass.

"No! You deserve to be lectured! Your carefree, killing sprees need to come to an end. I don't care if you're a vampire or not. You have no right to take lives like you do."

Klaus looked straight at her, knowing he would get her with the next thing he said.

"I gave you the opportunity to stop me from feeding. Pretend to be in love with me, and I stop with the attacks. So, really, every time I kill a human now, it's blood on your hands too, love," he retorted.

Klaus stood up and walked over to the table that held a sample of his wine collection. He poured himself more of the red liquid and glared at the wall as he took a drink. Was she really giving him a pep talk right now? In his own house?

"You cannot turn this on me!" Caroline exclaimed, getting rallied up. She leaned forward on the couch as she scolded. "You're the one killing!"

"And you're the one with the ability to make it stop," he commented, still staring at the wall as he talked to the blonde behind him. "I guess that shows how much you really do care about innocent lives," he snapped back.

He heard her storm off the couch and walk around it until she was standing a couple yards behind him. "I can't believe you! Who in their right mind would seriously believe that-"

Caroline was cut short by the sound of a door creaking shut. The noise came from the right, and both Caroline and Klaus' heads snapped in that direction.

_Bonnie_

Caroline had honestly forgotten that Bonnie was still here. All her attention had been focused on Klaus. And Klaus' had been on her. But now, they both were intent on the witch downstairs.

Klaus took three steady, silent steps towards the door that led down into the basement.

"Must be Rebekah," Caroline made up, trying to keep him in the room.

"Rebekah's not here," he responded without even thinking about it. He was using all his senses to figure out what was in his house.

"Kol then," she tried.

"Nor Kol…."

"Well they might have just now gotten home."

"They're both away hunting down Elijah. They left earlier today and they're not ones to give up easily," he mumbled, getting tired of her talking while he tried to listen.

"Maybe they found him?" Caroline was getting desperate. Klaus had been walking towards the door and was now halfway there.

"Shh…" Klaus instructed.

Caroline stared at him in shock. "Did you just shush me?"

Klaus turned back to her exasperatedly. "Yes, because it would be rude to have you continue to talk," he threw back at her. She smirked, even though she was trying to win against him, he had played that well.

Klaus stepped sideways to place his glass upon a shelf nearby without taking his eyes off the door.

Caroline panicked. What was she supposed to do? There was nothing left to suggest, and he was already to the door. Caroline did the only thing she could think of and sped in front of him, placing her right between his bare chest and the door.

"You're not leaving this room until you apologize," she instructed.

Klaus looked down at her with a confused and amazed look. "Until I what?"

"Apologize!" she repeated, pushing his warm chest with one hand before crossing her arms across her chest.

He didn't move at all. It was as if she had just tapped him. He stared down at her and breathed low. "Caroline, there is someone else in my house and if you don't move now they could possibly kill you," he tried to scare her into moving. But Caroline knew the truth and didn't move, just merely stood there with a waiting expression. Klaus rolled his eyes and put his hand on her arm to mover her aside.

Her arms came undone and she held herself in place by grabbing onto his arm and shoulder. "Caroline," he warned.

"I'll be your girlfriend!" she sputtered out. She had panicked. And now, both stood there, thinking and becoming worried at what she had just said.

"You will?" he asked, not really in a happy 'making sure' voice, but more like a 'you _actually_ said yes?' tone.

Caroline stared at him wide-eyed. She had so many thoughts and regrets floating around in her head, but her one concern right now was distracting him from Bonnie.

"Yes….Well, not be your girlfriend, but I'll act like it, like we had agreed on." Her hands were subconsciously clutching down on his skin, but she didn't notice.

Klaus, however, did. He became incredibly conscious of her hands being on him, along with the fact that they were face to face, with little to no space between them. He just stared at her. She was never supposed to agree to that. She was just supposed to live with the guilt on her shoulder, but now…he'd have to stop feeding. No more blood…only animal or hospitalized blood bags…. No more fresh liquid being drained from lively beings…

"But you can't feed on any more livi-" Caroline started to remind him, but there was absolutely no need for it.

"Yes, yes, I know!" he cut her off, shaking his head like what she was saying was an annoying fly. He locked his eyes on hers once again, and they just stared at each other. Her green eyes on his blue ones. Her grip started to loosen, and his hand on her arm started to trail down her arm, to her elbow.

Klaus was completely zoned in on Caroline, but she was a little more 'with it'. And that was why Caroline was able to hear the faint noise of a car door being shut. Bonnie was ready to leave.

Caroline inhaled and realized that she had been holding Klaus' arms. She released them immediately and looked around the room, anywhere but his face.

"Ok, well this has been a…crazy night," she breathed, laughing a little. "I uh…I better get going," she said, walking around Klaus and heading for her shoes on the floor by the door. He watched her and followed until she put her hand on the door handle and picked up the purse that he hadn't noticed her carrying before. "Thank you for the drink. I guess I'll see you around," she said before opening the door and taking a step towards exiting.

"Caroline?" Klaus called. She stopped in the doorway and turned to face him. "Don't ever think you can distract me while your friend searches my house again," he warned.

Caroline, knowing that he had had that hunch all along, dropped her shoulders, along with her hopes, and walked out of the house. As she closed the door, she looked up to see Bonnie's outline in the car, waiting patiently.

Caroline rushed over and got in the car as fast as she could, looking in the back for Tyler. But it was empty. "Well?" she asked, looking expectantly at Bonnie.

Bonnie shook her head. "He must have him somewhere else. Tyler wasn't in the house."

Caroline moaned and laid her head back on the head rest of her seat. Where else would Klaus be hiding him? This was going to be harder than she thought.


	4. The 'Real' Relationship

"So what now?" Bonnie asked. The girls were getting ready for a date they had planned together the following day. Last night had been almost a complete waste. No, scratch that, it had been time wasted that made everything worse!

"I don't know," Caroline admitted as she pulled a scarf around her neck in front of her mirror. "At least we know that Tyler isn't in the house," she tried to make the whole situation a little better.

Bonnie pulled on a sweater and straightened herself out with in a different mirror as she replied, "Yeah, but now you're Klaus' girlfriend!" like it was the sickest thing in the world.

"Thank you, Bonnie. Try to make it sound repulsive!" Caroline snapped back, instantly in a bad mood whenever the thought of being Klaus' girlfriend ever crossed her mind.

"I'm sorry, but it is! He's a mass murderer. There is no possible way anyone can date him and not sound disgusting." Bonnie came up from behind Caroline and watched her as she put on earrings.

Caroline stopped what she was doing and sighed as she looked around the room in despair. "I know," she said pitifully.

Bonnie laughed and looked at the time. "Alright, we've got to get going. You deal with your Klaus issues later," she informed her as she picked up her purse and headed for the door. Caroline gathered her things as well and stood to follow her friend.

On her way out of her bedroom door, there was a vibration in her pocket. She pulled her phone out to see that she had a text from a number that wasn't in her contacts. Throwing caution to the wind, she opened it and read:

_Have a good day, sweetheart._

She groaned out loud and hit the reply button with force and anger.

_I'm your girlfriend. Not your wife._

Feeling like her phone was germ infested, she tossed it back into her room, not even caring about all the missed calls and texts she would get for the rest of the day.

"Mom, really, I feel fine," Caroline tried to convince her mother. It was around eight o'clock, and Caroline had gotten home around half an hour ago, hungry. She and her mother had sat down for dinner, but a salad wasn't going to do anything for the craving she was having now. She just needed to go to her room so she could sneak out the window and go get some real food.

She had started to turn a little pale, so her mother was concerned she was sick.

"Are you sure you won't need anything?" he mother called from downstairs. Sure her mother knew she was a vampire, but she still didn't fully think about that fact before she got all motherly.

"I'm sure," Caroline replied as she trudged up the stairs to her room.

"If you need anything, just yell," her mother insisted.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled back.

Once she was in her bedroom, safe and sound, she dropped everything she was carrying on her bed and rushed to the window. She, too, had recently had to switch to the Stefan diet. When she first became a vampire, she was accidentally feeding on humans, and then Stefan helped her with blood bags and animals. But after about six months, there was this one boy, one she found very attractive, and she couldn't help herself. She didn't kill him, but she almost did.

And that's when Stefan got incredibly upset with her and started giving her the silent treatment. And so far, it was working. Therefore, the Stefan diet, as Damon calls it.

When Caroline came back into her room she was tired. But at least she was fed and content for the time being. She sighed and walked over to her closet, pulling off her scarf and jacket to hang them up together. She kicked off her shoes and yawned as she headed for her bed. She pulled back the covers and pulled some of the pillows down so she could lay completely flat on them.

Her pajamas were already in her bathroom, all she had to do was slip them on and then brush her teeth. After she finished, she walked back to her room. She looked up and jumped suddenly at the sight of Klaus standing right outside her window.

She almost yelped, but was able to keep it back. She stared at him for a while, registering what was going on. He just stared back with a patient look. She gave him a disbelieved look and stumbled over to the window.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed as she opened the window.

Klaus tilted his head. "Hello to you, too." Caroline gave him an annoyed look, disappointed that she didn't expect him to say something like that. "May I come in?" Klaus asked.

Caroline looked at him smartly. "No, Klaus. You can't." She smirked at him.

Klaus, not listening to what she had said, pushed the window all the way open and climbed over the rim and jumped into the room with confidence.

"I said no!" Caroline reminded him. He turned to look down at her as she scowled from his arm.

"Yes, but I was just being polite. I intended to come in no matter what you said," he informed her with a smug grin.

Caroline rolled her eyes, shut her window, and walked away from him, towards her bed. "Off to bed so soon?" he asked, following her a few steps.

Caroline looked at him like he was insane. "It's one o'clock in the morning. Yes, 'off to bed'," she mimicked in his accent. He tried not to smile, but his lips curled anyways. She obviously had never practiced a British accent before.

"What?" Caroline demanded, referring to his smirk.

Klaus chuckled and smiled at her. "You obviously haven't had any help in the accent area."

She stared at him with a blank look for a few seconds. Who cares if she couldn't do the accent correctly? His was enough for the both of them.

Her silence, however, made Klaus think that she hadn't understood what he was saying. "You're terrible with the English accent," he explained.

Caroline scoffed and sat down on her bed. "I don't care if I can't mimic you perfectly. Why would I want to?" she retorted.

"Because I'm your boyfriend, and you want to be just like me," he said, taking a seat on the end of her bed.

Caroline frowned. "Ok, one: I'm your fake girlfriend," she corrected in a slow voice, making sure it stuck. "And two: I don't want to be like any of my boyfriends, especially when they're homicidal hybrids that force themselves onto other people." She pushed her feet under her blanket and pulled the covers up over her torso, laying down and getting ready to go to sleep.

For some reason, she really didn't care that he was in her room. She knew he wouldn't do anything….Well, no, she didn't know that. But something told her not to be intimidated by him.

"Well, point being, you suck at accents," Klaus summed up, shrugging.

Caroline rolled her eyes and looked down to him. He smiled back, trying to make her smile. It didn't work…at first. But after a few seconds of hard-core glaring, her mouth gave in and she faintly smiled back, involuntarily.

Her hands flew to her face as she tried to cover it up.

"Why do you do that?" Klaus asked, smiling because, frankly, she looked cute.

"Do what?" Caroline muffled behind her hands.

"Try to cover your smile? It's an amazing smile. Don't let my presence make you hide it," he said gently.

Caroline sighed. "It's not your presence. It's the fact that I shouldn't be smiling with you in the room!" She growled and turned herself until her face was securely in her hands and on top of her pillow.

Klaus watched her, hurt that she would think that. "I hope that that will change soon," he commented.

"Don't bet on it," Caroline replied.

Klaus looked to the side, feeling a little upset. He hated how much Caroline hated him, and how she would never give him a chance. He had to force her to be his fake-girlfriend. That was a low that even he wished he'd never reach. But he had. And for what? This one girl. This one Caroline…

"So, if Tyler isn't at your house, where do you have him?" Caroline asked randomly, sitting up and staring contently at Klaus.

It took Klaus a couple of seconds to pull back to the real world and then register what she had said. He smirked at her. "You know I can't tell you that, Caroline."

Caroline just continued to watch him, like the answer would eventually jump out at her. "How long do I have to act like I like you before you give me him?" she asked.

Klaus sighed and played with the spread of her bed. "I already told you that. When you actually like me, and you're not just acting any longer," he replied.

She huffed and let her head fall back onto the headrest. "But who knows how long that will take!" she moaned.

Klaus laughed. "Well, keep resisting me and it never will."

Caroline frowned. He was absolutely right. If she kept pushing him away, she'd never start to accept him as a friend. She needed to start letting into him, even though that's exactly what Klaus wanted. But it was the only way to save Tyler.

She looked back to him abruptly, and stared for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Then she scooted over in her bed and patted the empty space next to her.

Klaus watched her like she was crazy. "Come on!" she urged, pulling the corner of the blanket back a little ways, welcoming him even further.

"You're serious?" Klaus asked, not believing that she listened to him.

"Yes! Now get your butt over here now before I change my mind!" she ordered, already starting to think otherwise.

Klaus raised his eyebrows and stood up, walked around the bed, and placed himself in the space she had created for him. She happily (on the outside) pulled the covers up over him too, but then stopped.

She was thinking about resting on him, but that might be too much for her… But, she needed Tyler back. So, hesitantly, she moved herself into a lying down position and gently leaned on Klaus' side, placing her hand on his chest.

Klaus stared down at her with amusement. "You're really intent on making it look like you like me, aren't you?" he said, half laughing.

Caroline shrugged against his side. "Well, we are girlfriend and boyfriend, are we not?" she asked, looking up at him. "We should act like it."

Klaus looked down at her with admiration. "What happened to 'fake'?" he asked, slowly wrapping his arm around her back.

Caroline thought about what to reply with. What did happen to the 'fake'? It was still there, of course. But it was almost like it was on break so that she could warm up to Klaus. It was like she had to forget about the 'fake' in order for it to be 'fake'. If she didn't, Klaus wouldn't believe she was trying, and he'd just make it even longer before he gave her Tyler. So, that was the answer.

"Not fake, Klaus. I want to get to know you. And what better way than jumping in as your girlfriend? Acting like I already know you? Being free and comfortable, that's what's going to make our friendship grow," she said, looking down at the buttons of his shirt. She was not liking this at all. There were much better ways than jumping in as his girlfriend. Their friendship would never grow because it wasn't there to begin with. A plant can't grow without a seed.

Caroline relaxed further into her bed, and Klaus' chest. This really wasn't as terrible as she had expected. He was warm, and soft, and his arms around her made her feel content. She felt safe for the first time since she became a vampire.

"Thank you, Caroline," Klaus murmured.

Caroline frowned. "For what, exactly?"

Klaus squeezed the arm that was around her a little bit. "For giving me a chance."

'For giving him a chance'…if only he knew….

When Caroline woke up the next morning, she rolled on to her side, and felt a jump of panic in her stomach as she felt someone else in her bed. After freaking out and flailing around in bed a little, Klaus was up and laughing at her. Slowly, she remembered last night.

"Forget I was here, love?" he mused.

"Yes! You were supposed to leave last night!" she scolded.

Klaus held his hands out like it wasn't his fault. "You insisted I stayed!" he defended.

Caroline frowned and dropped the hands that had been holding onto her chest, trying to slow her heartbeat. "What are you talking about?"

Klaus rolled his eyes. "After you fell asleep, I tried to leave, but you wouldn't let me," he explained.

"Then why don't I remember this? I think I would have remembered if I'd told you to stay with me," she yelled. She had seen his face for a total of thirty seconds, and already he had managed to make her mad and confused.

Klaus looked off to the side and cringed his face. "Yeah, you didn't exactly tell me to stay…" he admitted.

"Then what exactly did I do?" she pushed.

Klaus shrugged and shook his head, like he didn't know if he should tell her or not. Finally, making up his mind, he exhaled and said, "You tightened your grip around me."

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "I tightened my grip…and you took that as 'Don't leave me'?" she clarified.

Klaus didn't reply, just simply looked at her with an expression that looked like he was saying 'Yup, that just about sums it up!'.

"You're unbelievable," Caroline mumbled, getting out of the bed and walking to her window. Klaus got up along with her and followed closely behind.

"Did you forget everything that you said last night?" he asked, so close to her that she felt the heat radiating off his body. "You were going to give me a chance. We're 'real' girlfriend and boyfriend now," he reminded.

Caroline shook her head; she didn't need to be reminded of this. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. And as the first act of girlfriend-boyfriend, I'm kicking you out my window before my mother catches you," she made up, really just wanting him to leave.

Klaus laughed. "Fine, love. I'll leave before you're mother wakes up and finds that you've been inviting the big bad vampire for sleepovers," he said, making her sound pathetic. He started to head for the window, but stopped at the last second and turned back to her. "Goodbye kiss?"

Caroline laughed. A good, full heartedly laugh. A kiss, he really expected her to kiss him. When she got done laughing, she focused on his face and saw he was serious. She straightened up.

"No!" she hissed, pushing his shoulder.

"Why not?" he hissed back. "Convince me that you like me," he tried her.

She started at him for a while, seriously thinking about how…unbelievable he was. She exhaled and leaned up really quick to place a sweet kiss on Klaus' cheek. His rough skin was more masculine that she had expected.

She pulled back and looked at him with an expecting look. "There. Now leave!"

Klaus smirked, and said as he climbed out of the window, "I'll see you later, sweetheart." And with that, he was gone.

Caroline shut the window and locked it. She turned around and rubbed her forehead. This was going to be an unfocused day.

* * *

><p><strong>TealyBob (Author): Yeah, I know, this chapter sucked. But I had some serious writers blockage. And that can't be good when first starting a story...<strong>

**Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for you helpful, wonderful reviews! And please review for this chapter. Say anything! If you liked it, hated it, wanted to puke, anything! I live for the moments where I go to email and find that someone reviewed my story! I love those moments! So please! review! You'll make my day!**


	5. The Peanut Butter Drive

Caroline walked out of the grocery store and headed for her car. She had a cart of groceries that she needed to get home before her mother called her yet again. They were almost completely out of food, not that it mattered to Caroline, but she was in charge of making sure the fridge was full.

She got to her car and unlocked the backseat, placing bags of food one by one into the car. She had gotten four bags in and was turning around to get the rest, but found, instead, a darkly dressed man almost inches in front of her. She jumped and stumbled back to rest on her car as she realized it was only Klaus.

Klaus chuckled, like he always did around her. "Jumpy much?" he asked as he turned to the cart and started to help transport the groceries. Caroline recovered herself and moved to get _her_ groceries by _herself_.

"I got it," she informed him, reaching for the bags he was carrying. He pulled his hands out of the way.

"No, please. Let me," he offered, moving them into the backseat next to the others. Caroline glared at him.

"Really, Klaus. It's fine. I can get it." She reached for two of the remaining five bags and moved them.

Klaus shrugged. "If it will make you feel better," he said, giving up. But he did see a jar of peanut butter in one of the sacks and made an approving noise as he reached for it.

Caroline, not having seen him take the jar, continued to place the remaining bags in the car.

"So what are you doing today, sweetheart?" he asked around the peanut butter that he had placed in his mouth using his finger.

Caroline turned to him and gasped. "Klaus!" she scolded, not moving to take it from him or anything.

"What?" he asked innocently, placing another scoop in his mouth and sucking it off his finger.

"I just bought that!" she said again, watching in disapproval as he continued to eat.

"Well you can buy more," he shrugged, not caring one bit. "But this is good. What's in it?" he asked.

Caroline sighed and shut the car door and started to push the cart over to a cart corral. "It's peanut butter, Klaus. Nothing special," she grumbled in an annoyed voice.

She turned back to her car to leave, but Klaus was leaning against the driver's door. He put a clean finger in the jar again and held it out to her. "Try it, it's weird," he prompted.

Caroline scrunched her nose. "Get that out of my face," she whined.

"Just try it."

"No, Klaus, stop it," she said, pushing his hand away.

"I'm telling you, it's different."

"I'm telling you, I don't care."

"You really should."

"Stop it."

"You'll regret it."

"Klaus."

"Don't be scared."

"Klaus!"

"Come on."

"Fine!"

She held his hand still as she wrapped her mouth around his finger and slid the half of the peanut butter off his finger quickly. Klaus smirked and continued to hold his hand out as he watched her reaction.

It tasted normal.

"There's nothing wrong with it," she disagreed, swallowing the sticky stuff.

Klaus smirked harder and stared at her like he had told a joke. "I know," he said cheerfully, sucking the rest of it off his finger.

Caroline slapped him on the arm. Klaus just laughed. "You jerk!" she screeched.

Klaus screwed the lid back onto the peanut butter jar and stood up from the car. He tossed the jar up in the air for Caroline to catch. But in the split second that she opened her hand to catch the peanut butter, Klaus snatched the car keys out of her hand.

He unlocked the front seat, but walked around the car to unlock the passenger's door. He held open the second door and waited for Caroline. She stared at him with confusion, jar in hand.

He nodded her over. "Come along. I'll drive you home," he offered.

Caroline was going to deny, but she hadn't even been able to win the peanut butter war; there was no way she was winning this. So she rolled her eyes and trudged around the back of the car and stopped when she was in front of Klaus, the door between them.

She glared as hard as she could without smiling back at his happy face. "If you try anything funny, I will kill you," she threatened. Klaus merely tilted his head and waited for her to get in.

She slumped down into the seat and pulled her legs in as Klaus slowly started to shut the door. He got in on his side and wiggled his eyebrows at her as he started the engine. Caroline turned to look out her window as a smile crept onto her face. He was truly ridiculous.

As they cruised out of the parking lot, Caroline realized something. For a vampire that's been around for over a thousand years, he was a terrible driver.

"Klaus stop!" Caroline cried as a car pulled out in front of them.

"Well what the bloody hell is he doing?" he grumbled, referring to the man driving the car that had just budged in front of them.

"He got to the intersection before you, so he gets to go first!" she informed him.

"Well who made up that rule?" Klaus demanded as if it was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

"You tell me! You were there when it was created," Caroline retorted.

Klaus turned to give her a 'did you _really_ just go there?' look, completely taking his eye off the road.

"Pay attention to where you're going!" Caroline shouted as Klaus ran the car right over a curb.

Klaus looked back to the road and saw that they were a complete tire on someone's lawn. "Oh," he said casually and turned them so they were back on the road.

Caroline rested her head in her hand and propped it up on the armrest. They were only about a minute of walking away from the parking lot they had started in. "How long is this going to take?" she huffed.

Klaus shrugged. "Half an hour, give or take a few minutes," he joked. Caroline gave him a serious look and he bit his lips in response. "You're right, you're right. It will be more around an hour," he changed.

Caroline chuckled at his tone and looked out her window. "Why are you driving me home if you suck at it?" she asked.

Klaus shrugged again. He turned a corner with surprising grace and smirked to himself in accomplishment. "To get to know you. I am your boyfriend, after all."

Caroline sighed as that statement of fact came back to her mind. She unscrewed the lid of the peanut butter jar she was still holding and started eating it, herself. After she had had the lid off for a few seconds, the smell hit Klaus.

"Oh," he purred. "That smells good. Give me a scoop, would you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"You already had some!" Caroline denied him, sounding like a selfish little kid.

"Oh stop acting like you're twelve!" Klaus snapped back.

"But I thought twelve was a wonderful age," Caroline mimicked him, trying to do his accent again but failing.

Klaus smirked while passing a slow car that was in front of them. At least she had been paying attention that night.

Caroline smirked as an idea came to mind. She scooped out a fairly big portion on her finger and held it out, away from Klaus' face. He turned his face slightly to try and catch her finger in his mouth, but she moved it backwards just in time to have it scrape against the corner of his mouth. He licked it off, not knowing that she had done it on purpose, and tried again to get her finger, his sight never leaving the road. Caroline sniffled back a giggle at the face Klaus was making as he tried intently to drive and eat peanut butter at the same time. Klaus tried again, but Caroline slowly raised her finger so when he moved his head towards the peanut butter, it smeared along his cheekbone right under his eye. He frowned and pulled back.

Caroline lost it the minute it hit his face, she leaned forward and just started laughing, harder than she had for a long time. Her eyes were completely shut and her mouth was wide open as juts of laughter erupted from her.

Klaus started frantically wiping his face off. "Caroline!" he scolded. He looked over to her to see her laughing hysterically. Even when she was laughing with her mouth hanging open, she still managed to look beautiful. He slowly smiled at her sight, completely forgetting he was driving. Caroline looked up to breath, and saw that they were about to run into a camper that was in front of them.

"Klaus!" she screamed, pointing out the window. Klaus snapped to attention and panicked. He swerved completely to the side to try not to hit the car, and somehow miraculously turned off of the road and onto the street that would lead to Caroline's house.

Caroline was clutching onto the door and the back of her seat, trying to keep calm as Klaus went all over the road. Klaus finally got control over the car again, and started driving slowly and smoothly.

They were quiet for a few moments, in a bit of an awkward silence. Then Klaus turned to Caroline and said matter-of-factly, "I meant to do that."

Caroline let out a giant breath that she had been holding and smiled. "Oh my God," she laughed. "You just about killed us!" she informed him with a breath of laughter. Klaus smiled. At least she was laughing.

"I told you, I meant to do that," he repeated.

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Caroline responded reassuringly. She looked back at her groceries to see that a couple bags had tipped over, and now cans of food were rolling all over the floor in the back. "You're cleaning that up," she instructed.

"This is your car!" Klaus defended.

"You're the one driving it all over the road!" Caroline retorted, a hint of a smile still hung on her features.

Klaus gave up right there. She had an excellent point. But if she wanted him to clean it up, so be it.

Klaus sighed and mumbled an agreement on how she was absolutely right. He then completely let go of the steering wheel and turned around in his seat and reached down to pick up the food. Caroline yelped out in confusion and aggravation as she made a quick dive to grab and steady the wheel as they started to move sideways off the pavement.

"What are you doing?" she yelled in frustration.

"Cleaning up your car," he answered casually, putting the last few cans back into the bags. He turned around with a huff and just sat down calmly in his seat, not taking control over the car for her at all.

"Are you going to take the wheel now?" she growled. Her whole body was aching from being strapped to her seat by her seatbelt, and having to reach across the car to manage the vehicle.

Klaus studied what was going on, and decided this was quite the show. "Nah," he dragged out as he folded his hands behind his head.

Caroline had had enough already. They were close enough to her house that she maneuvered the car until it was parking (hardly) next to the curb and reached her leg over to hit the break as she turned the key and killed the car's motor. She untangled herself from Klaus' part of the car and got out, slamming the door shut.

Klaus got out as well. He watched with expectancy as she fetched almost all of the bags out of the car at once, leaving just a couple left that she could come back for later. He placed his hands on his hips as he waited for her to speak. After a few moments of nothing, he talked. "Well that was fun."

Caroline stopped short and looked at him. They stared at each other for a few moments. Then Caroline said slowly, and with feeling, "You. Are. Unbelievable!"

Klaus smiled and got in the car for the last bags and also fetched the peanut butter before he scurried to follow her to the house.

The house was open and she pushed the door open for the two of them and led them to the kitchen, where she hauled all of the bags up onto the counter.

She turned back to Klaus. "Thank you, Klaus, for your _help_," she said, emphasizing the word 'help'.

Klaus nodded to her in acknowledgement. "And might I get something for being of such help? Perhaps…a kiss?" he offered, knowing it wouldn't come.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Get lost," she said.

Klaus made a serious, hurt face. "Fine," he said determinedly. "But I'm taking this with me." He reached for the peanut butter, gave her one more finishing look and waltzed out of the house in mock hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>TealyBob (Author): Thanks to all for the reviews! they're so helpful! I'm hoping to do more like this chapter, where they're doing everyday things. So if you think of anything 'everyday like' that they could do, just review it or pm it to me! please! I may be the author, but I do get writersblock easily, so your opinions help! Thanks for reading and add me to your favs! That way I know I'm loved! haha :)<strong>


	6. The Sweet Caroline

"You do understand that you're telling me you had a good time with him, right?" Bonnie questioned Caroline over the phone. Caroline had explained to her friend what she and Klaus had done the previous day. Caroline was in her living room, cleaning the room that had somehow become a mess over night with the phone on speaker.

"Well…I guess. But only because my life was in danger!" Caroline tried to defend.

"Most people have a _worse_ time when they're about to die," Bonnie informed her.

Caroline sputtered out a few sounds while she tried to form words in her mouth. Bonnie had an excellent point. She picked up a vase full of flowers and moved it to a different surface while she wiped down the coffee table. "Then yes, Bonnie, I had a good time," she admitted. "I have to act like his friend anyway. I might as well enjoy myself," Caroline grumbled, as if this was a terrible thing, even though she easily could enjoy herself when she's with Klaus.

"Just make sure you don't forget what's going on," Bonnie reminded.

"I won't. That's kind of impossible to forget," Caroline said. She put the vase back and headed to the kitchen, picking up the phone and bringing it to her ear to talk regularly. "The fact that Tyler's dying isn't just going to slip my mind," she promised like it was obvious.

"I know…just make sure. Because the way you talk about Klaus, any girl could easily lose herself with him," Bonnie commented.

Caroline stopped dead in her tracks. Did she really talk about Klaus like that? No. She couldn't. And there was no way any girl could lose themselves with him…Especially not her…Never…Only when he's looking straight into her eyes and their eyes lock…But that never happens…Only twice whenever she's with him…

No! No girl would ever lose their head to him.

Caroline laughed at Bonnie. "Are you insane? No. He's a mass murderer, Bonnie. There's no way in hell that anyone could get lost with him."

Bonnie sighed. "Alright," she sang, as if she was just saying 'alright' to make Caroline think she had gotten her way.

"Bonnie," Caroline said firmly, but with a smile. "Klaus is anything but special," she reassured her friend.

"Alright!" Bonnie said again, still with a tone that made it clear that she didn't believe Caroline. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?" she asked abruptly, changing the subject.

Caroline sighed and looked around. "Cleaning," she answered. "Something happened last night. I think Mom had a party. The house is a freaking mess!" Caroline exasperated.

"And when you say mess…" Bonnie prompted her, knowing that Caroline was a clean freak, so even if there's a cup left sitting on the table, the place looks like a disaster to her.

"I mean there's food all over all of the furniture, plastic cups set all around, the chairs around the table are all scattered around the house, and the place smells terrible!" Caroline replied, completely being honest.

"Sounds like a party," Bonnie solved.

"Why on earth would my mother be throwing a party? And it had to have been a quick one, I was only out for about three hours yesterday when I went to see Stefan," Caroline explained.

"Well maybe people came, made a mess, and left, just to piss you off," Bonnie joked. Caroline chuckled. "What were you doing with Stefan?" she asked, just then registering what Caroline had said.

Caroline leaned up from the counter and started to head for the living room as she explained. "Well, you know Elena left him for Damon. Apparently he's still not over it. He's a total wreck," she said with pity.

"Well duh! There's no way he's over that already, Elena really hurt him with all that she's done to mess with him. His emotions have been everywhere this past year," Bonnie breathed, as if he might somehow hear their conversation.

"You don't need to tell me. I already know all about it. But I don't know if I was much help. We went out to one of his favorite clubs and just drank and I listened as he unloaded to me. It was really a sad sight to see," Caroline admitted as she pushed the corner of the couch forward to straighten it out.

"I wish there was something we could do to help… But I honestly think that the more we try to help, the worse it makes him feel."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I had to wait for him to call me. He just has to be ready to let people in-" Caroline was saying, but was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Hold on, someone's here," she mumbled to Bonnie as she pulled the phone away from her ear and headed for the door. The blinds were down, so she didn't see Klaus standing at the door until it was all the way open. Caroline sighed when she saw him. "Seriously?" was all she said.

Klaus tilted his head like he was offended. He had one hand behind his back, while the other lay loosely at his side. He must have seen the phone in Caroline's hand, for he didn't say anything, just held is hand out to silently ask if he could come in.

Caroline didn't answer, just completely turned around and walked into the house as she brought the phone back to her ear, leaving Klaus to decide to come in or not.

"I have to go, Bonnie. I've got company," she said simply, with a grudge in her voice that made it clear that she wasn't pleased with the guest.

"Have fun!" Bonnie sang in her ear, already laughing at Caroline. Fantastic. She was saying goodbye to her friend so she could spend time with a freaky hybrid that could kill her at any second, and her friend was making fun of her for supposedly having a crush on him.

Caroline abruptly hung the phone up, refusing the urge to smile at her friend. She turned back to see Klaus shutting the door behind him, closing out a lot of the light in the house. Caroline flipped a switch beside her and lit up the hallway where Klaus was standing, still with a hand behind him.

Caroline approached him. "Why are you here again?" she asked, making sure to put an emphasis on 'again'.

Klaus took a step closer to her and pulled his arm out from behind to reveal a bouquet of spikey, brilliant blue flowers. Despite Caroline not wanting Klaus to be in her home, she couldn't help but gasp at the flowers. She had never seen these kinds of flowers before. She stepped forward and brought her hands up to gently cup one of the flowers, completely forgetting the irritation she had had moments before.

"Bachelor Buttons," Klaus answered her unspoken question of what kind they were. He had a beaming smile on his face as he looked down at Caroline examining the flowers he had just gotten for her. She was so close to him, he could almost feel the wisps of loose hairs on the top of her head against his nose.

Caroline wasn't speaking, just gaping at the flowers before her. She slowly pet the top of one, feeling the moist petals. She was subconsciously smiling at them. "I take it you like them?" Klaus asked, chuckling slightly at her odd behavior towards a bunch of bright colored flowers.

She looked up at him with a smile. "Where did you get them? I've never seen anything like them!" she exclaimed. She didn't notice how close she was allowing him to get.

"I have my ways," he said with a shrug.

She smiled a little longer at both the man in front of her and the beautiful flowers, and then carefully started to take them from Klaus and head to the kitchen. He was right on her heals, almost stepping on her as he followed.

Caroline got out a vase and started to fill it with water as Klaus got himself a knife and started cutting the very ends of the stems off of each flower. Caroline smirked when she saw what he was doing. She knew he was domestic in some ways; she just never got to see him doing anything domestic-like.

"So, again, what are you going here?" she asked again, with much less anger and annoyance in her voice. She actually sounded happy.

"I brought you flowers," he answered simply, not looking up from his handiwork.

"That's the only reason why?" she clarified.

"No, I also came so that I could go salsa dancing with your mother," he retorted, looking up at her with a testing face.

She answered him with an annoyed look, and felt her stomach flutter as he slowly started to smirk at her. Thankfully, he looked back down to the knife and stems before she started to blush.

When he finished, he lifted all the flowers off the counter gently, and placed them into the vase that Caroline had filled with water.

"There," Klaus slurred as he studied his work and kind of fluffed the bottoms of the flowers. When he was finished he dropped his hands on the counter and looked at Caroline. They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Klaus randomly cracked a huge smile and just held it. Caroline laughed at his face and shook her head. She picked up the vase and made her way around the counter that was separating them and headed for the messy living room.

Klaus, again, followed her. When he saw the condition of the room, he frowned. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong…but this room doesn't regularly look like this, right?" he asked, point with his finger.

Caroline smirked. "Oh, no. We're trying a new look. What do you think?" she asked, with no hint that she was joking at all. Klaus just dropped his hand and pursed his lips together, not making any comment at all. Caroline chuckled once and set the vase on the table instead of in the messy room. "Well, I was cleaning before you got here, and that's what I'm going to keep doing. So you might as well leave, or you'll be bored out of your mind," Caroline told him as she entered the pigsty.

She started picking up random cups and stacking them together. Klaus sighed and walked into another room, seeming to know exactly what he was after. He returned with a radio.

Caroline looked up and frowned. "How did you know where that was?" she demanded.

Klaus simply answered, "I know my way around the house." He pulled what looked like his iPod out of his pocket and injected it to the sound system. "Care for a certain song?" he offered, not turning towards her.

She told him no as she went back to cleaning. So Klaus just picked his own song. "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel.

"You know this song?" Klaus asked as he turned up the music.

"Yes, I know this song. But why would you have it?" she questioned.

Klaus started walking towards her with a bit of a bounce in his step. "Because it pretty much describes a certain point in my life," he answered. He stopped beside of her as he swayed to the beat slightly.

"Well it certainly wasn't the dying point in your life, 'cause if it had been then you'd have died old," she remarked as she smirked.

Klaus frowned in mock hurt. "Ouch!" he said as he reached for her hand, smiling. He spun her around unexpectedly and she made a little shocked noise as she came to a stop. Klaus then walked away. …Well, he sort of swayed and danced away.

He made his way over to a little table with pictures setting on it, along with random chips that someone had spilled. He started picking them up as he dancing in his place.

"The stained glass curtain you're hiding behind, never lets in the sun…" he sang. Caroline, out of shock, turned to watch him. Then he looked over his shoulder and sang, "Darlin' only the good die young!"

"You sing, too?" Caroline yelled over the music.

Klaus turned to her with a slight smile. "'Course I do! Everyone should," he answered.

"But, you don't seem like the singing…type," she commented.

"Only occasionally."

Klaus got all the chips picked up and headed to the kitchen to throw them away. This was just too weird to Caroline. She had never in a million years thought she'd ever hear the Big-Bad-Klaus sing. She hated how happy and joyful and carefree he was around her. But then again, she loved it.

They spent about half an hour cleaning and listening to random songs that were on Klaus' playlist. Caroline was fluffing the pillows on the couches after she had vacuumed the carpets, which annoyed Klaus for he couldn't hear his music. Klaus was somewhere off in the house doing whatever. The house was pretty much clean, and Caroline was just adding slight little adjustments to everything, when suddenly, a certain song started that made her stand straight up and listen intently for Klaus' footsteps or voice.

_Where it began, I can't begin to knowin'._

_But then I know it's growin' strong._

Caroline bit her lip as she prayed that Klaus couldn't hear the music that was playing.

_Was in the spring, then spring became summer._

_Who'da believed you'd come along?_

Caroling started to make her way out from between the two couches, but was stopped dead when she heard his voice calling to her. "Caroline!" he called in a sing-songy way.

Caroline was scared. Not in a frightened to death way, but in the way like when you were little and you'd become scared when you'd hide while playing hide and seek. She smiled as she started to jog towards the iPod, with every intention of turning it off.

But right before she got to it, Klaus flashed before her, and looked down at her with a genuine smile on his face.

_Hands…_

"Touchin' hands," Klaus started to sing along with a fake dreamy look on his face, reaching for her hands, which she held behind her back. She was trying her hardest not to smile and run away, even though her instincts were telling her to. "Reachin' out," he continued, reaching behind her to try to find her hands. She giggled when he couldn't quite find them and he had to keep leaning closer to get his arms further around her. He smiled at her as she tried to suppress a squeal in her throat as Klaus' hands finally found hers.

_Touchin' me… _

Klaus was pulling her hands out in front of her and held them close to his chest as he looked down at her with the most ridiculous 'entranced' look ever. She giggled again and tried to pull away, but Klaus pulled her arms to him even closer.

_Touchin' you…_

Klaus put his arm around her waist and with the other, took her hand and held it out as he spun them around.

"Sweet Caroline!" he sang along, not completely on pitch. He smiled at her as she dropped her head back and laughed. "Good times never seemed so good!" he continued.

"Oh God, please no!" Caroline laughed even harder as Klaus waltzed them around in circles while singing to her. They were both laughing at one another.

_I've been inclined, to believe they never would. _

_But now I – _

"Look at the night…" Klaus continued, singing every word, even if he wasn't hitting the notes perfectly. Klaus slowed them down completely and both of them stared at each other, not laughing anymore, but smiling non-stop. Caroline would occasionally let out a chuckled at him.

They remained at the slow pace, but the minute the beat started picking up again, so did Klaus.

"Warm…Touchin' warm," he started again. Immediately, Caroline was smiling with a crazy big grin. People had sang this to her all her life, but this was especially silly. Maybe it was because Klaus was singing it. "Reachin' out." Klaus did expressions with the words, but over-did it. "Touchin' me," he laughed, but only because Caroline had first.

"Touchin' you!" Caroline joined in, feeling the moment.

Klaus chuckled low in his throat, and then lifted her off her feet and spun her around on the spot as the main chorus hit. Caroline couldn't contain her laughter and squeals as Klaus rushed her around as if they were on a dance floor. She had to lean over his shoulder and hold on for dear life as he spun around once again. She felt like a princess being lifted off her feet by a prince.

When they neared the ending of the song, and the music was fading away, Klaus and Caroline were tight in each other's arms, breathing slightly heavier than normal. Their faces were so close, Caroline had the urge to rest her forehead on his as she caught her breath and stopped chuckling once and for all. While Caroline didn't make contact, Klaus did. Caroline standing there, winded, and truly happy made her look more beautiful than she ever had. Klaus couldn't take it. He wanted more than anything to kiss her, but he knew that would ruin the entire moment. So, instead, he leaned down and kissed the soft skin right in front of her ear. Caroline subconsciously closed her eyes as she felt his cool lips on her flushed skin. He made the kiss last, knowing that this would be one of the few kisses he'd get out of her before she demanded her precious Tyler back.

Klaus, recognizing Caroline's peace for the moment, removed his lips and kissed a little closer to the front of her face, kissing the edge of her cheekbone. He closed his eyes, breathing in her essence.

Caroline slowly started to pull her head away, but kept her hands securely wrapped around his middle and shoulders. She looked up to his eyes and watched them flutter open. "Thank you," she said in a very soft tone.

Klaus frowned. "For what, love?"

Caroline shook her head. "I just haven't had that much fun for a long time. Not since I became a vampire. I didn't think I was still capable of having a truly enjoyable time… Thank you," she repeated.

Klaus smiled, out of sadness. He didn't want Caroline to feel that way. Ever. He reached up with both hands as he held her face in his hands gently. He smiled as he bent his knees to look straight into her eyes. "You're very welcome," he answered, with sorrow. He stood up straight and kissed her forehead, and then simply let his hands fall down her arms and rest on her elbows.

She started to loosen her grip on him and they both slowly recovered and looked around the house they had just freshly cleaned. "Well, thank you for cleaning the house with me, also," she thanked again.

Klaus, feeling like making her laugh, held her head in his hands once more and replayed what he had just done, with the same emotion and everything. "You're very welcome," he said again. Caroline laughed and rested her hands on his wrists as he once again kissed her forehead.

Klaus let go of her and made to retrieve his iPod. "Well, I've got to get home. Rebekah and Kol got back with Elijah, and we've got to sort some family business out."

Caroline felt a little disappointment. Why is she disappointed? No, Klaus was leaving. This was good.

"Alright. Well then, I guess I'll see you some other time, then," she said, walking towards the door with Klaus behind her. She opened the door, and smiled at him as he walked past her. "Thanks again for the flowers and the good time," she thanked once more.

Klaus turned around on the spot and made to grab her head once again, but Caroline chuckled and pushed his shoulder away. "Get out," she laughed. Klaus gave her one final smile and started walking away.

"See you later, sweet Caroline."

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><p>TealyBob (Author): Thank you all so much for reading and for the amazing reviews! They help me so much! And please review! Please please please! When I open my inbox and see that someone took a minute to review, it makes me so freaking happy!<p>

_So right now!_ **You**! GO REVIEW! And be completely honest. If you **liked** the chapter, say you **liked** it, don't force the word "_love_" into the review. If you hated it, tell me! That will make me try **harder**!

Thanks so much for reading! And those that added me to your favorites, thank you!


	7. The iPod

_**A/N**_: I've been told that Klaus acts childish and a little out of character... GOOD! Honestly, that's what I'm going for. Don't worry, there IS a point to him acting like this, just stick around and find out!

Thank you all for the feedback! really helps!

I wrote this in a rush, so please forgive the **grammar mistakes**! Please enjoy! ...Wait...can you really _control_ if you enjoy it or not...? Now I'm confused... Anyway-_**Review**_!

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><p>"What's got you in such a good mood?" Rebekah quizzed, giving him a look like he could explode with fireworks at any second.<p>

"Not you, that's for sure," Kol retorted, coming into the living room from another door.

Klaus shrugged. "It's just been an incredible day. I was able to turn Stefan Salvatore back into my friend," he said, looking directly at Rebekah, "Spend a wonderful day with my lovely, and now my siblings are home to enlighten me with their tales of what they did and where on earth Elijah is," he finished, a big grin on his face like he had just given a speech.

"I am here, Brother," came a voice from behind Klaus. Klaus turned around to see his elder brother staring at him.

"Ah, welcome back, Elijah. Might I ask how your trip was?" Klaus mused.

Elijah gave him a quizzical look. "You know very well that I was out looking for our mother, how do you expect it was?"

Kol chuckled. "It was a joyous trip filled with candy canes and lollipops," he retorted.

"Shut up, Kol. No one thinks you're amusing," Rebekah snapped back.

Klaus ignored his other two siblings and continued to look at Elijah. "Did you find her?"

Elijah shook his head solemnly. "No, I did not."

Klaus turned back to Kol and Rebekah. "What was the point in bringing him home, then?" he asked, lifting his hands slightly and letting them fall to his side again to add confusion and hint at what a waste of their time it was.

Kol chuckled.

"We brought him back to deal with you," Rebekah answered.

Klaus stared at them for a few moments. He glanced at Elijah, hoping he would give some answers. No such luck. "I seem to have missed something," he said in truth. "Why would Elijah be dealing with me? What is there to deal with?" he asked in an amused tone. As far as he knew, he was just the same as he always was, if not, happier.

"The Salvatore's," Kol stated.

"Not just the Salvatore's, the little blonde thing he calls a vampire," Rebekah corrected, staring at Klaus as if he were the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen.

"Klaus, we know you're obsessed with that little excuse for a vampire and the two brothers," Kol teased, "but you've been a bit too interested with them. You're forgetting the whole reason we came back to Mystic Falls in the first place."

Klaus stared at all of them as if he didn't understand. "What do you think you're talking about?" demanded Klaus.

Elijah stepped forward. "Brother, we're here for business, not for you to become reacquainted with everyone you know and hang about with all the women. We are here to end the curse. We've talked about this before." Elijah coaxed, trying to keep everyone in the room calm, just like a big brother would.

"No," Klaus corrected, "you talked about this. I told you I wasn't on bored with the entire situation. I wasn't then, and I'm not now."

Elijah cut in on Klaus' denial. "Klaus, we are going to go through with everything we planned, and if your actions stand in the way," Elijah's sentence was finished by Kol.

"Then we'll kill your little blonde in front of you and lock you away so you can't continue to interfere," he said, smirking.

Klaus glared at each of them. How could they be scolding him? Rebekah had developed a small crush on that Matt fellow, fallen for Damon Salvatore, and put off everything she was doing so she could torture the man. Meanwhile, Elijah had fallen in love with the very person they were trying to kill. Kol, on the other hand, hadn't done anything to get off track, but he certainly hadn't done anything to move the plan along. But they're fine with what each other were doing, it was just when _he_ started dating a girl that they snap to attention and act like they were innocent.

Klaus would have told them every thought going through his head, but they had already left the room, leaving him by himself to think.

Caroline was sitting on her bed, looking stunning, even though her hair was just simply lying on her shoulders and very little makeup covered her face. She was doing some sort of work, filling out paper after paper.

Klaus, not caring what she was doing one bit, easily lifted open the small window in her room and intruded suddenly. Once he was completely in the room and was standing up straight, he turned back to Caroline. She looked slightly shocked, but not nearly as shocked as she had been the first time he had shown up at her window. Klaus shut the window and walked into her room further, studying the posters on her wall.

"Yes?" Caroline asked after a few seconds of his silence.

Klaus turned to look at her. He had come here to scold her. Scold her for…everything. All his problems, what he was going to do, why she was so damn perfect, being around, agreeing to his bet, being nice to him…. But all of the thoughts left his mind as he stared at her. He couldn't raise his voice at her. Not again. The only times he had ever yelled at her, he had felt terrible. And it certainly didn't help with their relationship.

So, instead of yelling, unleashing his anger, he sighed and looked at the papers in front of her. "What are you doing?" he asked, totally going off the main topic on his mind.

Caroline sighed, like what she was doing was a huge school project that she couldn't wait to be done with. "Job applications," she said simply, picking up a few papers and moving them to the side to view the many papers underneath.

"What do you need a job for?" he asked, as if that was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

"We're getting low on our budget. The town isn't paying my mom nearly as much as they used to, and she needs help with money while there are still two people living in this house," she explained. Then she dropped the pen in her hand and rubbed her face. "But I'm hoping to move out soon," she mumbled behind her hands. "Get my own place…"

Klaus frowned at her. She tried so hard to make herself normal. She was getting a _job_. He had told her before, there's an entire world waiting for her! But she wastes her time on human needs, such as money.

"I have to kill Elena," Klaus said, suddenly. Nothing in his mind had led to that statement, nothing had reminded him to tell her. It just slipped out.

Caroline slowly looked up to him with her eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry," she said slowly, "what?"

Klaus looked around the room, avoiding her eyes. "My family. When they were un-daggered, they all agreed that we were to stay in Mystic Falls until the curse is broken," he explained. When Caroline didn't answer, he explained further. "The curse on vampires. The one that makes them crave human blood. If we break that curse…we're free. We'd be perfect. We wouldn't kill. We would indulge ourselves with normal food. We would live forever, never age, and there would be no need for anyone to kill us, for we would bring no danger. That is, if we decide not to go serial killing," Klaus chuckled. He started to look over to her, expecting her to still be staring at him with a confused and furious face.

He was right about her being furious.

But she wasn't on the bed any longer. She was storming over to him, with a stake in hand. Her hand was brought back, behind her head, getting ready to be thrown forward into his chest. But Klaus caught her hand right in time, the point inches away from his chest. Caroline growled as she pushed her hand further, trying to win the impossible.

"Caroline," Klaus warned in a calm voice. She didn't listen, just stared at his tan shirt, right where she intended to drive the stake into his flesh. "Caroline," he growled again, knowing that she wasn't listening. "You kill me, you kill Tyler," he reminded.

She looked up to his eyes. That didn't matter; this wasn't the right kind of wood. It was just a simple stake. It wouldn't even kill him. It would just hurt like hell. "I'm not going to kill Elena, just listen to me," he instructed.

Maybe he really did have something useful to say. Very slowly, Caroline started to release the pressure she was applying and calm herself. She never stopped staring at him though, and he didn't let go of her hand, just in case she changed her mind.

"My family wants to kill her. I had suggested Katherine, instead. It just has to be a doppelganger," he explained in a calming voice. Their eyes watched one another.

"Well then make them stop!" Caroline demanded, as if he hadn't thought of that.

"What do you suggest I do? Make them brownies and hope that it convinces them to side with me?" he asked, sarcastically. He'd been hanging around Kol too long. "Caroline, they won't listen to me," he informed.

"Do something to make them listen! Threaten them, take from them, anything!"

"They've already promised to take away the one thing I care about if I interfere further," he said, looking down at her.

"Let them take it then!" she spat, pulling her hand out of his and turning away. "It can't be nearly that important," she commented hatefully.

Klaus chuckled. "Yes, it is."

Caroline stopped in front of her dresser and looked at the open drawer. "Well, think of it this way," she said, turning, "If you risk the thing you care about and keep them from killing Elena, I'd have a lot more respect for you... " she prompted.

Klaus looked down. If only she knew. "I'm afraid that wouldn't work," he said solemnly.

Caroline huffed. "And why not?"

Klaus didn't answer, just merely looked at her with his head slightly lowered.

Caroline, obviously not understanding or catching what he was clearly saying, rolled her eyes and sat down in the middle of her bed in irritation. "If you've come to annoy me and fill me with dread, mission accomplished," she huffed.

Klaus shook his head and looked down at her stiff form. "I came here to warn you, and let you know what I'm doing. Come on, sweetheart, give me some credit for at least caring," he pleaded.

She closed her eyes, in thought. He was stretching himself by caring this much. And he was giving her fair warning… "Thank you, Klaus," she whispered, giving in to him a little bit.

Klaus nodded slightly, letting her know that he had heard and acknowledged her.

"So what are you planning on doing in the mean time?" she asked.

"Well, I supposed wonder around, get lost in thoughts, worry about you, and keep Elena fairly safe," he pondered, starting to pace in the small room.

"Good," Caroline retorted. She seemed content with herself for the time being, and she picked up some more papers to fill out.

She got maybe three more blanks filled in when she abruptly dropped her papers and looked at him with a terribly confused face. "I don't get you. How can you be so happy this morning and then act like it never happened now?" she asked. That had been bugging her ever since he climbed in the window with that sinister look.

"Because, Caroline," he started. He had rolled his eyes, knowing that this conversation would come up sooner or later. "I'm a complicated person. I used to be fun and outgoing and 'cool', as you call it, but over the years I've gotten more solemn," he said, looking around at the ceiling as he appeared to be thinking. "...but when I'm with you, sometimes I go back to being the fun person I was years ago."

Caroline thought about his answer for a few seconds, chewing on her lower lip. "Well, for the record, I like fun Klaus much more than killer Klaus," she smiled, trying to lighten up the heavy and quiet mood.

They both smiled.

"Well, keep me around long enough, and fun Klaus might show up more often," he chuckled, but not meaning that to be taken as a joke. He quickly replayed that morning. He had really been in a happy mood. He hadn't acted that way for a long time. Then it occurred to him that he should probably make sure that stayed between the two of them. "...Could you…not tell anyone about earlier today? I may have been fun and enjoyable, but it wasn't like me, and if my family were to hear I've been acting like a child, they'd definitely act on their word. And I can't let that happen," he tried to convince her not to spill.

"Why? What is so important that you can't risk losing?" she questioned.

"You'll find out soon enough," he said, almost waving the question away.

"No. Tell me now. You can only play games for so long before it gets old, Klaus," she snapped. She was, truly, tired of all the games he insisted on playing.

"I'm not sure you want to win this game so quickly, my dear," he chuckled with a wise, tired expression.

"Yes I do. The thing you don't want to lose could be a deadly weapon. Or a person you took captive. It could be anything and if it's so important, I need to know what it is!"

Klaus took a long pause, staring straight at her face. He had to seriously think before saying, "Caroline, it's you."

She just stared at him. This shouldn't be so surprising to her, but she didn't think he cared this much! 'Fancying' her was one thing, but this was just cheesy!

"You're so full of it!" she said, giving him a: you're-pathetic look.

"And what might you be talking about?" he questioned, playing innocent.

"There is no way that I'm the thing you can't lose. That's the dumbest, corniest, most dumb thing I've ever heard!" Caroline spat out, fully aware that she couldn't come up with a better excuse.

"You said dumb already, love," Klaus smirked at her with a hidden laugh.

"That's because it is dumb!"

"Dumb, yes, but true. Ok?" Klaus looked at her with a completely serious face. "I respected you before, yes, but the more time I spend with you, the more I fall for you, Caroline."

She just stared at him...more. Like, if she looked into his eyes long enough she might catch a glimpse of a lie, or make him change his mind about everything. Everything. Including Tyler. And her.

But there was nothing. Either, he really was telling the truth, or over three thousand years of acting has paid off. But he wasn't the only one that could act. Maybe if she just acted like she completely believed him, he'd buy it…

"Alright, I'll believe you," she said, shrugging.

Klaus eyed her suspiciously.

"See? I'm trusting you. Now you should trust me and give me Tyler…" she prompted.

Klaus let out an annoyed chuckle and sat down on the edge of her bed. "You're so blunt!" he commented under his breath. "I'm not giving him to you yet, dear. You're going to have to give up on asking for him, it won't work" he informed her.

Caroline crossed her arms and stared ahead with a very upset face. Klaus chuckled. She was pouting. Full out, pouting. Her lip was poking out from underneath and everything.

He ignored her childish actions and turned his attention to her room. He had never really taken the time to snoop out the room. The first thing he noticed was the posters.

There was an exceptionally large picture hanging right above her vanity mirror. It was an image of a young man, with pale skin, and spiky, light brown hair. In the corner of his mouth was a little trickle of what looked like red paint. Klaus frowned. Was that seriously an attempt at a vampire?

"What is that?" Klaus asked in repulsion. He didn't even have to point or describe what he was indicating. Caroline followed his gaze and laughed at his reaction to her Twilight poster.

"Edward," she answered simply. "From Twilight. But you wouldn't know anything about that," she chuckled.

"Why is he on your wall?" he quizzed. "You can't seriously like fake vampires, could you?"

As Klaus studied the picture of the pathetic looking man, something came flying out of nowhere and stuck itself right through "Edward's" forehead. "Darts," Caroline explained.

Klaus looked at the poster, after he pulled his eyes off the black and red dart, and saw that there were small little punctures all around the picture.

"Ah!" Klaus said slowly, realizing what was going on now. "Good, you scared me there for a moment," he said, totally exasperating…sorta…

"Yeah, yeah," Caroline mumbled, seeming to have turned her attention to her papers once more. "Find something quiet to do and leave me alone."

Klaus turned back to give her an unapproved look, but her face was focused on the forms. Klaus turned back around and spotted an iPod Touch lying on a desk next to the bed. He reached for it, interested in what Caroline busied herself with.

The first thing he noticed was a gold, idol looking app. It almost looked like a face. So, of course, Klaus clicked on it, only to be brought to a main menu of an Indiana Jones looking theme. Klaus clicked play and was met with what looked like a man running from monkeys…

"What is this?" Klaus demanded, getting frustrated after the third time that the idiotic man had run off of the walk way.

Caroline grumbled as she looked up again to answer Klaus. "Temple Run," she answered hastily.

Klaus frowned at her answer. "What is the point?" he asked, glaring at the iPod.

"Entertainment," she answered with little to no interest.

Klaus looked at her from over his shoulder, annoyed that she wouldn't pay attention to him. So, he started scooting back on the bed until he was lying at her side, propping himself up on his elbow and stared up at her with big puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not explaining how to play," Caroline answered, not even looking at him, but somehow knowing his question. "Figure it out for yourself."

Klaus looked back to the iPod and started playing. He thought he was doing pretty well. He had mad three whole turns before falling to his death. He played a couple of games, thinking he was getting better.

"You suck at this," Caroline retorted. She had turned to watch him as he failed epically.

Klaus frowned up at her. "I do not! I got over a thousand points last time," he informed her with pride.

Caroline chuckled. "Yeah, you suck."

"I do not," Klaus mumbled to himself, turning back and ignoring her. He pressed replay and prepared himself. He turned left, then jumped over a stump, but then there was a gap in the road…and Klaus didn't know what to do.

"Jump!" Caroline cried, leaning over Klaus completely and controlling the man to jump to the other edge.

"Excuse me!" Klaus said, to her as she leaned almost completely over his body.

"Well, someone's got to save this poor little guy…" she snapped as she continued to play for him.

"No," Klaus decided, pulling the iPod out of her reach and trying to push her off.

"Klaus!" she cried as she reached for it just in time to save the man from hitting a tree.

"Stop it," Klaus instructed her, leaning back on the bed in hopes that he could move far enough back that she couldn't reach. "Do your papers."

"He's gonna die!" she squealed as she reached for it again, but only managing to throw herself over Klaus' middle.

"It's a video game!" he reminded her.

"Yeah," Caroline replied, giving him a look like it was obvious. "And I need a new high score."

Klaus turned to the game as he heard a moan. "Too bad," he said with a fake sympathetic look. He turned the screen to her. "He died."

Caroline smacked him on the arm and tried to snatch her iPod away.

The position they were in was really quite amusing. Klaus was reclined up against the headrest with his legs bent at the knee. Caroline was leaning over his torso diagonally, reaching for the device that Klaus had in an out stretched arm.

"Who said I was finished with it?" he tested.

"Me," she answered affirmatively. "So give it here."

Klaus gave her a trying face and he threw the iPod clear to the other side of the room. Caroline gasped and watched as it landed in her cloths basket. She placed her hands on the mattress, on either side of Klaus and hoisted her chest up off his to look at him. Their faces were only about a foot apart, and their chests were practically right on each other. She had raised herself to yell at him, but the moment she caught his blue eyes in her own, she forgot how to speak. As did he.

They both just stared at each other as they slowly came to realize how close they were. Caroline took in every detail of his face. His cute little nose, his slightly prickly jaw that looked like he had forgotten to shave that day, his light, yet intense eyes that were studying her face in return.

Little did she know, she was inching towards him. Klaus, however, was fully aware of it. His eyes slid down and landed on her slightly parted lips. He kept his eyes on her lips as he ever so slowly raised his head closer to hers. Their breathing was connected. Their mouths would have met by now, if they hadn't had their heads turned at such a way that their lips were like puzzle pieces that just needed to be nudged a hair further to be perfectly connected.

Caroline was lost, and only when she heard her phone buzzing did she open her eyes, literally, and snap to focus. She pulled away and flushed as she pushed herself off of Klaus.

Klaus, extremely irritated, felt a rush of cold air as her body was suddenly lifted off. It was like being content under a few blankets, and then, out of nowhere, they're rushed off of you, and you're left to shiver.

Caroline pretended to be completely indulged in her phone as she waited for her face to cool down to its normal color. What was she doing? How could she? What was going through her head?

Klaus shifted himself off the bed and stood up. "Well…it's late, and I should really be heading off," he said, not caring that it was only nine o'clock. He stared at her, waiting for a response, and when he didn't get one, he leaned over, took one of her nervous hands, and placed a very light kiss on her knuckles. Caroline watched with confusion, sorrow, and other emotions she shouldn't have been feeling in his presence…ever.

And with that, Klaus was gone, out the window, and into the night, leaving Caroline alone to think and worry about the emotional and mental condition of her being.

* * *

><p>Review! Lol thank you for reading!<br>...I wasn't kidding about reviewing. Do it. Dooooo iiiitttt!


	8. The Forest Date

Klaus entered his house at the exact moment that Elijah had placed his hand on the door, preparing to leave for the night. Elijah stopped in his place on the inside of the door, and stood back, allowing Klaus to pass.

"You're home late," Elijah commented. And he was. After Klaus had left Caroline's, he had gone to a small little bar on the east side of town for a drink. A beer. Not a girl. He wasn't allowed to be drinking from humans currently…

"And you're leaving late," Klaus replied, coming in the house and watching Elijah. "Plans for the night?"

Elijah nodded slightly as he looked out the door into the night. "Indeed," he answered simply. He turned his gaze back to his brother and frowned. "What?"

Elijah could sense whenever something was bothering Klaus. Normally, he didn't say anything on it, he just let Klaus be. But now, there was something angering Klaus, and Elijah couldn't afford for his siblings to be upset with him at a time like this. He needed them on his side.

Klaus had an expressionless face. He was just merely staring at Elijah. He suddenly inhaled before saying, "Tell me, Elijah, why are you allowed to love, but I can't even be allowed to make friends?" he questioned.

Elijah also had an emotionless expression. Both men watched each other carefully. "Whatever do you mean, Niklaus?"

"Elena," Klaus answered, and at that word, Elijah stiffened slightly. "We're here to kill her, and you've gone and made her your precious love," Klaus said.

"I'm afraid you've been mistaken, Brother," Elijah tried to persuade, but Klaus knew the truth, and he wasn't about to let Elijah try to convince him otherwise.

"No mistake, Elijah. You've fallen in love with the sacrifice," he informed him with disapproval.

Elijah didn't deny it this time, he just continued to stare at Klaus, completely still and feeling the slight breeze come rolling through the open door. Klaus took a few steps closer to his brother, until they were in the position that looked like they were whispering to each other. And they were.

"So side with me and kill Katherine instead," Klaus instructed, looking at Elijah as if he could compel him.

Elijah didn't move, didn't speak, didn't breath. He was almost like a statue. Then, without answering Klaus or even acknowledging what he had said, Elijah walked past Klaus and out into the night, closing the door behind him.

Skippingahead,skippingahead,skippingahead,skippingahead

Caroline stopped mid-sentence and reached in her purse to find her ringing phone. She gave the woman she was speaking to an apologetic look as she stepped to the side and clicked answer on her phone.

"What?" she asked, already knowing who had called her.

"Where are you?" Klaus demanded.

"Why do you care?" she questioned.

Caroline heard Klaus take a frustrated sigh. "Are you alright?" he asked in a tone that let her know he was trying his best to keep calm.

Caroline frowned. "Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm just making sure. Last night I had a little heated moment with my brother and I couldn't find you this morning."

"Where did you look for me?"

"That doesn't matter. Where are you?" he asked again, demanding an answer.

"I'm at the school. Mrs. Canson needed my help with some displays that their setting up for the community auction. Happy?" she asked, finally giving him an answer.

"No, I'm not. You're annoying me. I've been concerned about you all morning-," he started.

"-It's eight o'clock."

"And you're not even going to be respectful to me," he scolded.

Caroline rolled her eyes and shifted her weight onto her other leg. "Ok, well you know where I am, is that all?" she asked.

Klaus took a moment, making it seem like he was thinking if that _was_ truly all…

"What auction?" he asked. This was the first he had heard of it.

"The annual auction the town does. It lasts for two days, and needs help getting prepared. So, I'm kinda busy right now…" she hinted at letting her get back to her work.

"Well I'd offer to help, but that's not really something I enjoy…" Klaus pondered.

"That's great. But really, I have to go," she said, catching the eye of an irritated manager.

"Caroline!" Klaus started, making sure she didn't hang up on him. "Would you care to go on a date with me tonight?" he asked at the last second.

Ah. That was the real reason he had called.

"I don't know. I wasn't kidding about being busy."

"Oh, come on! You've got eternity to be busy, be a freelancer tonight," Klaus prompted.

Caroline started to smile, but caught herself. "Fine, Klaus," she dragged, as if agreeing was an awful thing to do, "I'll see you tonight. I don't have time for you to give me details, so just text me everything."

"Dress formal!" he said in almost a warning tone, making sure she heard him.

"Yeah, ok whatever. Bye," she demanded, and hung up the phone.

Skippingahead, skippingahead, skippingahead, skippingahead (We're skipping ahead, b.t.w.)

Caroline looked at herself in the mirror as she released the final curler from her hair, letting the strip of hair bounce down in front of her face. Her makeup was done, she was in her long dress, and her hair was finally being fixed with a final accessory. Her dress was red, V-neck that stretched low, and flowed all the way to the floor.

Klaus ran his palm back through his hair, making sure there weren't any stray hairs. He was in a simple tuxedo. That was it. Hair fixed, and suited up. He ran his hands along his chest, making sure that the small bulge in his inner pocket wasn't too noticeable. Content with himself, he left his house in his black, old Mustang.

Caroline looked up from her reflection when she heard a car pull up next to her house. She grabbed her purse and headed down the stairs. Klaus knocked on the door right as she stopped in front of it. With a sigh, she pulled open the door and stared, with an eyebrow arched, at the dressed up Klaus before her.

Klaus took literally about an entire minute to examine her, with an open mouth. Caroline dropped the arm that had been holding the frame of the door and looked off to the side, annoyed. "Well?" she asked, looking back to him. "Are we going, or not?"

Klaus snapped his jaw shut and looked up to her with his eyes slightly squinted, like he does. "Don't start the night off on a bad note," he sang, turning to the side and holding out an elbow, waiting for her to take it. "Shall we?" Caroline stepped outside, closed the door, sighed, and took Klaus' arm in hers.

Klaus smirked to himself and led her to his "impressive" car. He opened the door for her and graciously guided her into the seat with his hand on hers. Once she was securely in the seat, he closed the door and walked around to his door.

Once in, he buckled his seatbelt (which Caroline had immediately done when she entered the vehicle) and gave her a 'Ready?' look.

Caroline bit the inside of her cheek and stared ahead, and the road that she could possibly die on. But, she cleared her throat and looked down at her lap, brushing out the crinkles in her dress with her hands. "Now, Klaus," she began in a serious, sophisticated voice, "I _am_ wearing an incredibly expensive outfit that has been in my family for a while now…and I swear," she said, still quite serious and not joking at all, "if you kill us tonight, and this dress is ruined," she looked at him, "I _will_ kill you, again."

Klaus smirked. "Relax, darling. I assure you, you have nothing to be worried about," he reassured her.

Caroline snorted, but 'covered it up' by coughing.

And with that, they were off. Caroline, scared stiff as Klaus slowly made his way around the roads, and Klaus, impressed with himself as he managed to successfully drive without flaw.

He made his way around curves, passing cars, and stops signs, and only became incredibly focused on the road when he started leading them out of town.

"Where are we going?" Caroline asked. She had been prepared to go to some fancy restaurant with cute waiters, and classic music playing. But maybe that's where they still were going; it was just out of town…

Klaus didn't answer, just continued to watch the road for the hidden turn coming up. When he finally saw it, he slowed the car and turned onto the little forest road. It was hard to see where the path was going because weeds and plants had taken over the gravel over time.

"Ok, seriously, where are we?" Caroline demanded. There was no fancy restaurant down here. It was literally like they had accidentally driven off the road and were on a horse-and-carriage trail.

"A place I've been saving for a long time now," Klaus answered with a smile that he couldn't contain.

He stopped the car where he was positive the road ended and the walking path started. They were in the middle of a forest, trees around them in every direction, and bugs passed by randomly. Klaus stepped out of the car and breathed in the familiar scent. Caroline just looked groggily at the ground around them through her window.

Klaus when to her door and opened it for her. She sat there, looking at the meadow-y ground. She looked up at Klaus face, and then scoffed. "Oh there is no way I'm walking around on dirt with these heals," she informed him determinedly.

"Then take them off," Klaus suggested.

Caroline looked down at the bottom of her dress, then back to him. "My dress will drag on the ground. And there's no way I'm ruining this dress," she excused, crossing her arms.

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Then lift your dress."

Caroline glared at him. "Let me rephrase everything: There is no way I'm walking around out here, period."

Klaus sighed with irritation. "You're going to come with me, Caroline, no question."

"How am I supposed to get around?" she demanded, brushing away a fly that had made its way in front of her face.

"Well would you like me to carry you?" Klaus asked, very sarcastically.

Caroline looked at him, a faint smile played at the corners of her mouth. "Actually," she sang, turning herself as if to exit the car, "that'd be lovely." She looked up at him with a full blown smile on her face now.

Klaus gave her a 'seriously?' look. He had walked himself straight into that one. He sighed, looked upward for a moment, and then took a few steps towards her, lifting her out of the car and turning her until she was in his arms bridal-style.

Caroline pulled her full dress up so that it didn't drag on the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck and then looked at him with a waiting expression. He sighed again and kicked the door shut. He started walking towards the path, but right as he almost took his first step into the forest, Caroline stopped him. "Wait! I need my purse," she cried. Klaus stopped short, and turned around and headed for the car again. When he got there, he leaned down to the door and allowed Caroline to reach through the open window and pick up her red bag.

Then he started for the woods again. But when his foot was about to enter the forest, Caroline stopped him again. "Actually, I don't really need it. It would just get in the way." She looked at him with an innocent look on. Klaus sighed and turned around and made his way to the car again so she could put the purse back.

Once again, he headed for the forest. Almost there, and…

"Oh! I forgot to put my lip gloss back in my purse before you put it back," she mused, as she looked at the lip gloss in her hand as if she had forgotten she was holding it.

She was doing this on purpose. Klaus, not wanting to take the time to walk clear back to the car, took a deep breath and looked at the small container. "Put that in my hand," he instructed, staring straight at it. Caroline frowned at him and just froze.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Trust me, dear."

She slowly placed the container in the two open fingers of the hand that was holding her back up. Then, Klaus looked at her for a few seconds before throwing her straight up in the air.

Caroline screamed as she felt the wind rush down against her, then stop…then come rushing up from under her as she started to fall back down. This whole thing gave Klaus enough time to run to the car, throw the case in, and be back in a flash, ready to catch her.

He caught her almost the exact way she had been before he threw her, except her limbs were askew. It was almost like a scene in a cheesy Disney movie, except that this had been real and he had actually managed to accomplish it.

Caroline breathed heavily as she looked back at his face, clutching to his neck with everything she had to make sure he didn't drop her (or throw her again). "What is wrong with you?" she gasped.

Klaus smirked at her expression and just started heading for the forest again. He made his way through the path, ducking under tree branches, stepping over stones, and shaking his head to the side occasionally to rid the bugs that got in his way; all the while, Caroline rode him about the act he had just done.

"What would have happened if you weren't there? What if there had been a tree right above us? My hair is probably ruined now. And you don't even care. Klaus, I could have died…or broken something when I landed on your two arms. I'm probably bruised!"

"Yes, yes. But you are a vampire, therefore you're alive. And I didn't fail. I knew I wouldn't. So stop complaining, sweetheart, and enjoy the moments you have alive," he said with a bit of edge, tired of hearing how he _could_ have failed. Klaus gave her a skeptical look as he continued to walk without using caution. "And you're hair looks just as lovely as it did when I picked you up," he reassured.

Caroline, seeming to believe him, looked ahead, watching the trees go by. "Where are we going?" she asked yet again.

"You'll see when we get there," Klaus answered, just like her father did when she would ask during car rides. She really wasn't a patient person.

"Well when will that be?" she demanded, getting annoyed at the sound of insects and frogs and different animals flooding her sensitive ears.

"Soon."

Caroline looked behind them at the land they had already walked. It was almost like a poetic scene: The barely visible path protected by branches of the trees that grew along the sidelines. Small little lights, lightning bugs, floated aimlessly around. She smiled and, being caught in the moment, rested her chin on Klaus' shoulder as he slightly bounced as he moved them forward.

"We're here," Klaus announced, stopping near the edge of a tall cliff.

Caroline turned her head around and gasped, immediately tightening her grip, once more, on Klaus' neck. They were standing so close to the edge, maybe a foot away from tumbling down. But that didn't concern them right now. What they were focused on was the landscape. Trees spread everywhere. It was almost like there was a green blanket spread over everything. The almost completely darkened sky made everything all the more relaxing, and made Caroline feel completely content.

She didn't even notice Klaus walking them towards a small bench he had moved here years ago. Klaus sat down on one side, expecting her to instantly unwrap herself and move to her own place on the wooden bench, but she didn't move.

"Klaus…" she said, amazing. "This is…incredible… How long has this been here?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the landscape.

"For as long as I can remember," Klaus answered. He slowly started to remember all the times he had had here, good and bad. "I grew up down there, right in the middle of everything. This place was, and forever will be, my home," he said solemnly.

Caroline slowly turned to look at him almost in a trance. They locked eyes, and simply held each other's gaze. It was almost like they were trying to see one another's thoughts, their secrets, memories…

Caroline inhaled suddenly and realized she was still in Klaus' arms, now on his lap. She straightened her back out and started scooting backwards until she was secure on the bench, not touching him.

After a few more moments in silence and awe, Caroline turned to him. "So if you just brought me here to show me a view, why did I have to dress formally?" she quizzed.

Klaus shrugged. "Because this place deserves as much."

He spoke as if it were a living thing. A friend to him. He was a strange man, indeed.

"Wait!" Caroline exclaimed suddenly. "We have to do the scene they always do in movies!" she informed him. "I say 'The view from up here is amazing.' And you have to reply with…" she didn't finish the question, she wanted to make him figure it out.

Klaus chuckled and sat up, getting ready for her to start the scene. Caroline flipped her hair over her shoulder and cleared her throat. She put on the best 'dazed' expression she could muster and folded her hands in her lap. "The view from up here is amazing," she said all dream like.

Klaus smiled and stared at her turned face. "Yeah, it's incredible…" he replied, staring straight at her.

Caroline turned her head to him. "That wasn't the right line," she corrected softly, with a smile.

"It was too," Klaus replied with a soft, quiet voice, also smiling.

"No, it wasn't. You had the right idea, but they say something more…don't they?" she asked, frowning because she couldn't remember.

Klaus shook his head. "Normally the woman says, 'You have a nice place,' to which the man replies, 'It's got a great view.' So, yes," Klaus said in a deep voice. "It was the right line."

"Hardly," Caroline commented, turning away.

"Practically," Klaus corrected, continuing to stare at her.

Caroline ignored him and stared at everything. Her eyes focused on the lightning bugs that swarmed everywhere, like little candles floating around.

"This is like…" Caroline lifted her hand and made a waving motion, "magical," she finished.

"Yes you are," Klaus mumbled under his breath.

Caroline didn't even look at him, she just closed her eyes and laughed with all the air that was left in her lungs. "Ok, that was cheesy!" she laughed.

Klaus smiled. "_I_ thought it was sweet," he defended himself, even bringing his hand up to place it protectively on his chest.

"No, that was bad. That was like…just- no," she said, still slightly chuckling at him.

Klaus sat up in his seat and leaned forward. "I uh, I got you something," he said, reaching into his pocket.

Caroline snapped her head towards him. "Klaus. I told you, you can't buy me," she cried, getting fired up.

Klaus waved his hand, as if to make her stop because he had seen it coming. "I'm not trying to buy you," he clarified, "I'm just giving you a simple token of my gratitude."

Caroline held back a smile. 'Token of his gratitude.' Also from all those romantic movies.

Klaus pulled out a small box. It looked like a ring box. Caroline held her unneeded breath as he turned towards her. "Caroline," he started, opening the box. It was a ring box, with a ring inside. An impressive ring. It looked like an old fashioned, royal, brilliant ring that a queen might wear. "Would you do me the honor of wearing this ring?"

Caroline frowned. "Are you proposing?"

Klaus sighed and closed his eyes in annoyance. "No, I'm not proposing." He had been annoyed that she jumped to an assumption like that, but when he repeated it, he realized how ridiculous it was and the word 'proposing' came out as a huffed laugh.

Caroline let out a relieved breath with a smile. "Thank God. Then what are you giving me this for?" she asked.

Klaus bit his lips as he thought of what to say. But in the end, he just shrugged and said, "I just thought you'd like it."

Caroline took it from him slowly and studied it. "Well, yes, I like it…but I'm not going to wear it just because I like it," she said, touching the dull red stone in the middle.

"You need to," he said bluntly.

Caroline looked up at him with confusion. "Klaus, really, is there a reason I should be wearing this?"

Klaus took the ring out of the box she was holding and took her hand with it. He slipped it onto the middle finger of her right hand, knowing that was the finger it was going to fit, as he explained, "Yes, sweetheart, there is a reason. My family," he held her hand in his as he looked back to her eyes, "have been threatening me. And just to make sure that they don't…do- anything to you, I want you to wear this."

"What does it do?" she asked, not taking her hand from his.

"It will simply protect you from them," he said casually.

"Does it bring me back from the dead or something? Like Alaric's?" she tried to make sense of it.

Klaus shook his head. "No, but it will make it so that no one in my family can harm you in any way. But only the members of my family. It doesn't work on other, everyday people."

Caroline smirked. "Are you saying that you're not everyday people?"

Klaus gave her a look. "Of course we're not everyday people. You don't see us going down to the mall and purchasing swimming trousers, do you?" he joked.

Caroline's face lit up and she started to tap his shoulder over and over. "Hey!" she exclaimed, as if she had a great idea that he had hear.

Klaus stared at her as she continued to bat at his shoulder. "I'm right here, darling, what?"

Caroline, realizing he was indeed looking at her, stopped and started to explain. "How funny would it be if Kol came back from- No, Elijah! If Elijah came back from the mall with fancy little swimming trunks with fish on them!" she laughed like an excited little child.

Klaus just stared at her with a look as if she was on high. "I'm going to give you a little lesson now, my sweet Caroline, you can never use the word 'fancy' and 'fish' in the same sentence, ever again," he informed her, patting her hand as if she was a four year old that was being taught a lesson.

Caroline snapped out of her girlish act as soon as it had appeared. She looked around them quietly and then turned back to him. "Ok, this place is _way_ too nice for us to just be sitting here. Come on, let's go somewhere." She stood up, yes, in her heals, and pulled Klaus to his feet too. Klaus smiled that she was so excited about this place he was showing her. She started to walk, but stopped where she was and turned around right into him. "Is there any chance that there's a magical little fairy-hut somewhere?" she asked.

Klaus looked down at her with confusion plastered all over his face. "A what, sweetheart?" he questioned.

Caroline squinted her eyes shut like she remembered that he wouldn't know what that was. "Um, like a circular shelter in the middle of nowhere with no walls? It's got a pointed roof?" she said, hoping he would know what she was talking about.

Klaus frowned. "A gazebo?" he asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I've always wanted to dance on one of those, and seeing as this is a perfect night, and you _are_ an excellent dancer…" she hinted with a high note on the end of her sentence.

Klaus took her hand and spun her around slowly on the spot. Then, when she stopped spinning, pulled her to him, closely. "Miss Caroline," he said down at her. She smiled up at him. "Would you like to dance on the gazebo with me on this enchanting evening?"

* * *

><p><strong><em>TealyBob<em>**: Yeah, I know, this chapter sucked, but please stay with me cause next chapter, believe me, it's amazing!

If you noticed any grammar mistakes at ALL, tell me please! Even if it was just that I missed a period.

I know I'm kinda making Elijah the bad guy, and I don't want to! But I have to, sorry, Daniel Gillies...

**I will pick the next chapter up right HERE so I'll remind you to scan this and refresh your memory when I get it up so you remember what's going on. **

**Thank you everyone for the incredibly helpful reviews and feedback! They help wonders! So (I know you hear this ALL the time) Please review! Pretty please! Please! I'll love you forever! Please! I'm serious. Please... :*) [- crying but trying to be happy about it.] please...**


	9. The Feeling of Regret

"It would be my pleasure, Klaus," Caroline replied with a little curtsy.

Klaus smiled and looked down the cliff that they were standing above. He searched until he spotted the light blue, small building off in the distance that had been sitting there for nearly three centuries.

He looked back to her and wrapped an arm securely around her waist. "Ready?" he asked, preparing her.

Caroline hooked her arm around the shoulder of the arm that was holding her and used the other to pick up her dress. She had envisioned they would walk down. But it was getting dark, and Klaus had other plans. He placed one foot upon the edge of the cliff and gracefully leapt off. Caroline, having not expected this, gasped and quickly wrapped her other arm around his middle as they quickly headed for the lower ground of the bottom of the cliff. Caroline's red dress was billowing behind them almost like a flame in the night.

Now, this wasn't like a cliff with a river flowing through the middle and a different cliff just in front of it, no. This was a single cliff, almost like where a waterfall would be, but instead it was just a steady creek winding around the grounds. Almost everywhere you looked, neat, perfect squares of grass grew. The only place where the ground wasn't covered by plants was where a small bench, or the gazebo, stood.

Klaus lifted her up slightly in his arms so his feet would land on the grass first. Then he slowly set her down. She looked up from his chest (she had buried her head so she couldn't see anything) and smiled at the beautifully carved, white (now blue from the night), stone platform with posts randomly placed along the outside to hold up the pointed roof.

Caroline bounced where she was in delight. She didn't even realize that she still had her arms wrapped around Klaus. "I take it you like it?" he asked, studying her beaming face.

Caroline looked back to him, but the smile faded as she realized just how close they were. Their upper bodies were practically pressed together. She made a sort of 'confused' noise as she started to pull away from him. Klaus, however, took hold of one of her hands and pulled her towards the platform. They half ran half walked their way towards it. Klaus pulled her up onto it and when he reached the middle, he turned around and bowed, holding her hand out. Caroline, in return, curtsied again.

She smiled as he stood back up, spun her around, and then put his other arm around her waist. Their hands connected, his arm around her waist, and her other arm draped up his back and hooked over his shoulder. There was no music, but they immediately fell in perfect pace with one another as they slowly swayed to nothing.

They danced for a while before Klaus pulled his head back from right next to her face to look into her eyes. Caroline was almost in a trance. She was so beautiful. And when she let him get close like this, she was just so much more than anything he had imagined.

Klaus started to lean down to her, slowly, in case he went too fast and she snapped out of her soft mood. Caroline just stood there, waiting for him to kiss her. Waiting for the fireworks.

Fireworks? Why would there be fireworks? This is Klaus. This is Klaus!

With that thought in her mind, she turned to the side and went back to the dancing, acting like they hadn't been millimeters away from kissing…again.

Klaus looked to the side in irritation as he started dancing again. She had done it to him again. He had gotten so close to kissing her, but at the last second she pulled out. This was what, the third time she'd done that? The second? It didn't matter how many times she had, the point was it was driving him crazy.

Caroline studied the entrancing land around them as she pondered about all the thoughts she'd had no time to think about earlier. But now that she was finally feeling peaceful, she let the thoughts completely consume her.

Was this real? Was this really Klaus? It didn't matter how many times he told her that he liked her, she still couldn't wrap her mind around it. He was the Big Bad Klaus, and yet he still chased her, a small, young vampire that had so much left to learn. And the worse thing is that she didn't even respect it. She just thought of it as the most absurd thing she'd ever heard.

"Klaus?" she asked with a cracked voice for not having talked for a while. She couldn't see his face because it was over her shoulder and hers over his.

"Yes, love?" he replied softly in the lowest voice she had ever heard him use.

"I thought you were bad," she said bluntly.

Klaus chuckled against her. "I am bad. Maybe you only see the good in me," he joked against her ear.

Caroline, however, continued without laughing. "When you first came to the Falls, you were bad. And I mean….extremely bad. But now you're dancing with me in a gazebo in the middle of the most romantic landscaping ever. Could you _please_ explain yourself?" she asked, pulling away a little to look at his face.

Klaus wasn't smiling anymore. Had she forgotten that he was planning on killing her best friend?

No, wait. He had agreed to convince his family to kill Katherine instead… Was he going soft?

"There's nothing to explain, love. I'm no different. I'm simply more carefree with you," he denied.

"So it's because of me?" Caroline asked, lifting her eyebrows and dropping her head down to stare at him with a skeptical look.

Klaus stared back at her. "Yes."

Caroline frowned. See? That was where she was confused. This entire conversation had gotten her nowhere. "No, explain _that_, too," she demanded. They weren't moving anymore, just standing in the dancing pose.

"What is there to explain? You know how I feel about you, Caroline," he said.

"Feelings don't keep people from being evil!" she coached, getting upset that he wasn't giving her a straight answer.

"No, but attempting to get the person you love to love you in return can!" he snapped back.

Caroline's face completely changed from angered to pure shock. Klaus realized what he had let slip also and turned his head in irritation with himself. He would never hear the end of this. Caroline's hand dropped down from his shoulder. "What?" she clarified in a whisper.

Klaus stared off in the distance while he tried to figure out what to say. He was biting his lips together in annoyance for having a blank mind. "Caroline…" he growled. He couldn't think right now. Nothing was coming to his mind. "I didn't mean to say that," he corrected himself. He avoided her eyes as best he could, looking around her head and off into the open space around them.

"Klaus," Caroline started. She was trying to get his attention. "Tell me right now if you did or didn't mean to say that. Or more importantly, if you meant it." Caroline sounded almost hurt. "There's nothing worse than someone telling you they love you, only to find out it was a lie," she mumbled in almost a whisper.

Klaus finally turned to look at her. What does he say? How is he supposed to answer that? Tell her he lied and that he was making it up? Or tell her the truth and have her be even more angered and subconscious around him?

Klaus was holding a breath, still deciding what to say. "I may have over exaggerated my side of the argument a bit," he groaned.

Caroline didn't take that as an answer. "Klaus," she growled.

Klaus stopped moving all together and stared at her. She lowered her hand from his and stepped back half a step from his arm that still rested around her.

Klaus sighed. He was about to confess. Tell her that, yes, his feelings for her were growing immensely. He may not love her, but that definitely wouldn't be a stretch for him.

But before he could even get a sound out, Caroline had thought it through. Did she want an answer? If he said yes, that would just make everything weird around them again. But if he said no…she'd be crushed…

So, as Klaus inhaled to talk, Caroline cut him off my squinting her eyes shut and blurting out, "No! No, hold that thought. Don't say anything. I don't want to know."

Klaus felt a wave of relief flood over him. Thank the heavens. He wasn't ready to tell her that just yet.

"Just…no…" Caroline finished rambling. She looked up, but not as his face, at his chest. Anywhere but his eyes. His tie was slightly to the side, so she reached up and moved it. She brushed his chest down, getting rid of a couple of flakes of something that stood out against his black being. Klaus just stood there, letting her fix him in any way that pleased her.

When she stopped messing with him and dropped her hands to her side, Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Am I beautiful now?"

Caroline exhaled a held back laugh and looked down. As hard as she denied it, Klaus could make her laugh in even the most serious moments. And not a lot of people can do that.

She looked up and just nodded with a smirk on her face. Klaus smiled and looked around them. "Well, clearly you're out of your dancing mood. Any preferences on what we do now, sweetheart?"

"Yes," Caroline replied almost immediately. "I want to go walk across the creek," she said.

Klaus frowned. "I thought you were worried about your dress?" he asked, wondering why she suddenly didn't care.

Caroline waved off his statement. "My best friend is a witch, I'll have her fix any damage," she said nonchalantly.

Klaus chuckled and reached for her hand. "Well, in that case, shall we?"

Caroline grabbed his hand slowly. She took a deep breath and nodded. "We shall."

Klaus walked them off the gazebo and onto the perfect ground. Both of them could already hear the light trickle of the water running near them. "Is there any place with stepping stones?" she asked, pulling his arm down so she could talk closer to his ear.

"Of course," he replied. "There's one place where they're in perfect stepping spaces and they're perfectly flat. The best place to walk across the water at," he said as if it were the best place on earth.

And it almost was. The creak was nearly ten feet wide, and the big, blue-ish-gray, perfectly round stones sat still in walking distance. Caroline placed one foot on the closest stone and smiled at the small click that her heal made against the stone. She walked further out, almost half way, and then stopped. She faced against the current and smiled at the slight breeze.

Klaus was almost stunned at this picture. Her hair and dress slightly breezing backwards in the middle of an almost magical river, and her eyes closed in pleasure. Klaus walked out to meet her in the middle. She didn't even seem to notice he was there. While watching her face, he found her hand with his own and entwined their fingers. Caroline didn't resist or step away or even flex her fingers. She just stood there in the middle of everything. When she opened her eyes to stare straight ahead of her, she smiled even brighter.

She turned to Klaus so see him staring straight at her. He looked down at their entwined fingers and brought them up to his face. He looked to her as he kissed her hand slowly. Their eyes were locked, like they were so many times in their past. Klaus was about to try to slowly lean into kiss her again, but knew it would be no good. She'd merely pull out, like she always did. It was like she wanted to kiss him, until she was about to kiss him, and then a ton of fear and shame and negative thoughts hit her.

Klaus kept her hand up close to his lips, watching her expression. The smile had left her face and was now replaced with the same dreamy and wanting look that had to have been on his.

Klaus couldn't take it. Seeing her so…open, and lovely, and basically his, in this exact moment… Klaus reached out with his open hand and cupped her neck with it, pulling himself towards her and landing his lips on hers in the most gentle, romantic kiss he'd had for the longest time. When Caroline didn't reject him in anyway, he took her hand he was holding and pulled it over his shoulder and released it, making it possible for him to hold her even tighter to him while her arm draped over his shoulders.

Then he felt her arm tighten around his neck and her lips respond to his. Their breaths hitched as their minds raced and lips moved together in perfect motion.

Finally.

That was the thought going through her mind…_Finally_.

After a few moments Klaus pulled back to let her think, let her realize what just happen, let her react. He rested his forehead on hers and watched her expression. Her eyes were still closed as she smiled. Klaus sighed in relief.

Caroline's eyes opened to meet his perfectly blue ones. "What's on your mind right now?" Klaus whispered against her. She felt his breath on her face.

Caroline took a few moments to stare at him, before truthfully answering, "I've got to figure out who I am and what I stand for."

Klaus chuckled. That was what he had expected. She had to have had so many confusing thoughts going on in her mind at that moment. So many questions of what she was doing, and what was going to happen.

"If you could restart this entire evening-"

"-I wouldn't change a thing," Caroline answered before he even finished his question. She pulled his neck forward and met his lips again in an incredible kiss. This kiss was passionate, deep, real. The feelings she was having now she'd never had with anyone else. And she was completely awestruck.

Caroline closed her other hand in his hair, smiling at the crunch under her fingers of his dried hair jell. Klaus turned her almost completely to the side, bending her backwards a little ways to make the kiss even more romantic and dreamlike.

The turn, however, caused one of her feet to slip and sink into the water below them. She yelped against his lips and pulled her head away to look down. Her foot was completely in the water, and her heal had broken on a rock. Klaus realized what was happening and straightened her up, turning her back to their original pose.

Normally, Caroline would have screamed at him, but right now she couldn't. There was absolutely no way she could be mad at him. So, instead, she laughed. A good, full hearted laugh too, her head fell back for a few seconds as she just…laughed! Klaus was bent down, inspecting her foot for damage. Nothing. He pulled off the broken heal and stood back up.

Caroline bit her lips, trying not to make any kind of noise as they both stared at the broken shoe. "Well that's unfortunate," Klaus commented. Then, he tossed it into the water and watched it float away.

"Klaus! I could have fixed that," she scolded, but smiled at the same time.

"Or you could buy yourself some new ones," he said with a shrug.

Caroline shook her head and looked down. "Well I'm not walking around with one shoe on."

Klaus said a little 'Oh' and then bent down and tossed the other one into the river also. He looked at her and smiled at the height change of her. Now she was beautiful, and dainty. Klaus picked her up bridal-style the way he had previously and walked back across the stones with his maiden in his arms, barefoot.

"At least my dress isn't ruined," Caroline commented, studying the ends with care.

Klaus rolled his eyes and started back for the cliff they had been on around an hour ago.

"How are we getting back up there?" Caroline asked, finally realizing where he was headed.

"We jump," he said simply, like it was no big deal.

"We jump…up a cliff?" she clarified.

Klaus stood near the base and looked up. "Yes. It's not that high," he exaggerated.

It was incredibly high. "We're going to die," Caroline groaned.

Klaus looked at her. She stared back with a little bit of fear in her eyes. Klaus dipped his head and once again caught her lips in his. But only for a few seconds, for he bent his knees and launched them in the air, and that broke their contact immediately as Caroline hid her head in his chest again.

When they landed, Klaus made his way through the forest back to his car.

He set her down only when they were in front of her door. She smiled and slugged into the seat, with no shoes on, which felt odd to her.

When they were on the road, Caroline stared at the side of his face and replayed the entire night.

The kiss, the dancing, the river, the ring…the ring. Caroline looked down at it and smiled.

It's going to protect me against his family, she thought. I'll be safe. They won't be able to hurt me when I protect Elena from their stupid sacrifice. The sacrifice that would rid all vampires of the need of blood. But Klaus seemed to be doing well without blood. But then again, it had only been about a week. And he wasn't drinking blood for me. He was switching to the 'Stefan Diet' for me. Of course, I forced him to. It was the only way that I could keep humans safe from him and try to earn Tyler back…

Tyler…

Tyler!

"Oh my God!" Caroline cried, feeling like someone had dropped ice down her back and her stomach had frozen. She leaned forward and gripped the handle of the door.

"Caroline? What's wrong?" Klaus asked, reaching over to touch her arm.

"Oh my God," she repeated, but this time much quieter. She literally felt sick. "Tyler…" she mumbled.

Klaus felt all the pain and anger and revenge he had ignored all night come rushing to the surface. Tyler. The only reason she was even here. For her bloody puppet. The only reason she was even on this date with him. The only reason she gives him the time of day is so that she can win back the one boy keeping them apart.

Klaus ground his foot harder into the gas petal.

Tyler.


	10. The Feeling of Loneliness

I'm BACK! Vacation was great!

So, thank you for doing the poll, really helped! ...Ok, no it didn't. It just confused me further. Haha

**This chapter picks up right after chapter 9, so if you need to refresh your memory, do so! And this is kinda confusing too, Caroline is in her room, going over everything, so it goes back and forth from what HAPPENED and what's HAPPENING! But that's only for a little bit. Don't ask my why I did it, I don't know...**

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><p>Caroline was in her room, pulling the earrings out of her ears and letting them fall aimlessly onto her vanity. Klaus had gotten upset and incredibly angry with her. He had driven his car full force into her driveway and hit the brakes with such a force that there were most likely black marks on their driveway. When she had gotten out of the car, slamming the door shut, Klaus had gotten out, following her while ranting on. "We were having a perfectly good evening. All was well. And now that you remember Smallwood is in my clutches, you're going to act like nothing happened."<p>

Caroline had scoffed. "Yes, Klaus. That's exactly what I'm going to do. Tonight shouldn't have happened…" she had said, walking up to her door.

"What about you not wanting to change anything that happened?" he had questioned. "What happened to that?"

"That was before I remembered that you're a mass murderer that is currently killing my boyfriend!" Caroline had spat in his face.

Caroline walked to her bathroom to change out of the dress she was wearing.

"Wrong," Klaus had snapped. "_I'm_ your boyfriend," he stated smartly.

"He's my real boyfriend! Something you'll never be!" she had hissed before storming in her house.

Unfortunately, Klaus had followed her. "How many times must I remind you that you won't get Tyler back until you are truly happy with me? Telling me that I'll never be your boyfriend is not only a lie, but it's also not helping your situation any at all!"

Caroline growled at the mirror in her bath room as she looked down at her hands. Only one ring was on her fingers, and that was the ring that saved her from the sun. The one Klaus had given her was…

Caroline had turned around on her way up the stairs and shouted down at him. "Klaus! When are you going to get it through you head? You and me: Never going to happen!" she yelled.

"Don't be so sure with assumptions, love!" he had warned her.

Caroline had scoffed. "This isn't an assumption! This is real! Just," Caroline had put her hands together and worked the red ring off her finger, "stay away from me!" She'd thrown it at him and watched as it bounced off his chest and clashed on the floor. Klaus had been watching it, even as it was lying motionless on the floor.

Caroline had stormed up the stairs, away from him.

Klaus was left stared at the ring she had thrown at him, and what was really happening hit him like a ton of bricks. He'd picked up the ring and held it in his hands.

I gave her this, he had thought, so she'd be safe. And she just threw it, literally, back at me. I can't let this happen. If my family comes to her, she'll surly die. And I need her to trust me. This can't happen. It just can't.

After Klaus thought it all through, he had looked up the stairs and cautiously started up them, clutching the ring in his hand.

And that's what had led to where they were now. Caroline exiting her bathroom and walking straight to her room; and Klaus coming to a halt right outside her bedroom door. Caroline stopped in the middle of her room and ran her hand through her hair, emotions hitting her from every angle. Klaus carefully knocked on the door three times with his knuckles.

"Caroline?" he asked. His voice came out muffled by the door to Caroline's ears. She winced and looked up with irritation.

"How did you not take that entire fight downstairs as a 'Leave!'?" she questioned him.

Klaus waited a few moments, and then asked in a very quiet and soft voice, "May I come in?"

Caroline panicked and flashed straight to her door. She pressed her entire body weight against it so keep it shut. "No!" she yelled. "Klaus just leave me alone! I need to be by myself," she pleaded against the wooden block between the two.

"I know you do," Klaus replied. "Believe me, I know." Again, he took a few moments before continuing. It was like he couldn't find words. "I just…I need to fix this. I can't- and I won't leave until I've make what I made wrong, right again," he said.

Caroline felt her throat start to swell up. She was near the bridge of a major break down, and she really didn't want him to be here for it. "Klaus…" she whimpered, begging him to leave her to peace.

"Please, Caroline," he said. "I know me, and I know that if I don't do something right now, that's the only thing that's going to be on my mind. I won't be able to sleep, eat, or do anything until I know that everything is right with us.

Caroline didn't answer him. She took an audible shattered breath and felt herself getting overwhelmed. Klaus heard her and understood why she didn't want him in the room. "Alright, you don't have to let me in, but just listen to me. I'm terribly sorry that tonight went the way it did. And I'm sorry for having to play with your mind and decisions the way I am."

"You don't have to! You're choosing to!" Caroline corrected him.

"It's the only way you'll even give me the time of day, Caroline," he said weakly, having to explain this to her again. He looked down to the ring in his hands and swallowed slowly. "Caroline…Please tell me you understand."

Caroline felt a tear run down her cheek. She hated him right now. What he was doing was completely wrong. She needed Tyler back. Now. And Klaus was keeping him to his own advantage. But the horrible thing was: she did understand. And she felt sorry for Klaus because of all of it. He was so desperate for her… and she almost thrived off of that.

Caroline closed her eyes and exhaled, "Yes," very, very faintly.

Klaus felt relief rush over him, even if she truly didn't understand. "I…I need you to wear this ring, Caroline," he said in a hushed tone. "I know you're upset with me, but this ring will at least keep you alive."

"Klaus…" she managed to choke out. "I love Tyler, and wearing that ring…it's only going to make me feel completely awful about myself," she informed him, starting to lean off of the door a little. One of her hands fell down and crashed to her side against the red fabric of her dress.

"No, don't think about it like that," he said, "Think of it as another daylight ring. Please Caroline."

Caroline breathed deeply. She needed to get past this. She needed to wrap her mind around Klaus being her 'love' and that Tyler wasn't appearing until Klaus trusted her enough. And this was just one step closer to his trust.

Caroline looked down at the door handle that was pressed up against her side. She pulled away further and slowly reached for it. Very slowly, she turned the handle and pulled slightly.

Klaus felt the door being pulled away from him, and watched as the door opened further and a torn Caroline stood before him. Her hair was down over her shoulders, like she had ruffled it up. Her face looked full of sorrow and tired. Klaus noticed the single tear that had fell down her face, and the water that was still building up in her eyes. He took a few steps in her room, walking to her side so she didn't have to move.

He stared at her eyes as he reached down and lifted one of her limp hands. He slowly slid the ring onto her finger and clutched her hand between his own. "Don't hate me," he said, more than asked. He could tell she was upset with him, more than usual.

Caroline looked down at their hands. She very slowly shook her head. "I don't…" she replied honestly. She looked at the ring on her finger and swallowed. "Thank you," she said weakly.

Klaus squeezed her hand slightly and brought it up to his lips. He placed a small, lingering kiss on her knuckles and looked up at her. "Thank you," he returned.

"For what?" Caroline sighed, tired of playing guessing games with him.

"For giving me a chance." Klaus chuckled. "I don't know how many times I'll thank you for that."

Caroline shrugged. "I don't see how it's such a big deal. A ton of people give you chances, why am I any different?" she asked, truly not seeing the difference between her and all the other people.

Klaus smiled gently. "Because I don't deserve a chance with you. I'm basically forcing you into this relationship, but you're trying to see if I can make a man of myself. And that makes you amazing," he smiled.

Caroline felt sadness rushing over herself again. But it wasn't just sadness; it was shock, and happiness. She felt a small smile tugging on her lips as he continued. "Caroline, I can't tell you what would happen to me if you ever denied me. I know you have before, but you always forgive me afterwards. Even when you shouldn't have."

Caroline let another tear roll down her face. Somehow, these small, cheesy compliments he was giving her were perfect. She didn't think about what she was going to do, she just did it, with no hesitation. She stepped forward, pulled her hand out of his and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders.

Klaus immediately slipped his own arms around her middle and pulled her closer. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Caroline nuzzled her nose into the nape of his neck and let the last few tears drain out of her eyes.

"And, what I said earlier, about loving you—" Klaus started.

"Don't!" Caroline stopped him, stiffening and gripping him tighter. "Please don't," she pleaded.

Klaus closed his mouth and decided not to finish, because he didn't know what her reaction would be. They both remained silent, in each other's arms. "Klaus?" she asked, into his shoulder.

"Yes, love?" he replied, moving one of his hands a little further up her back.

"Why do I need this ring?" she asked.

"So my family can't harm you," he answered, not letting her go at all.

"But won't you be there to protect me?"

Klaus opened his eyes. She thought he'd be there to protect her… Of course he would, but she trusted him.

"Yes, but just in case I'm not here…" he explained.

"Then just don't leave," Caroline said into his ear. She was trying to play the sweet card, Tyler on her mind. But as she said it, she felt like she wouldn't mind if he agreed…

Klaus smiled. "If only you meant that…" Klaus knew that she was just trying to get Tyler. He had figured that most of the nice, loving things she said to him had Tyler written all over the back of it.

After hearing that, Caroline felt awful. After everything he just said about her, after all the positive things she realized about him…they both knew that it was all because of Tyler.

"No," Caroline said, deciding the biggest thing between them. "Ok, no," she declared, pulling back and putting her hands on his shoulders and looking straight into his eyes. "Yes, this may all be about Tyler, but because of all of this I've realized that you can be changed."

Changed? Even though Klaus knew Caroline meant well, that hurt. But he let her continue.

"You're evil, yes, but you can be persuaded to become good," she smiled.

Klaus frowned at her with surprise and hurt. "Caroline, this is who I am. You're not going to change me, no matter how hard you try," he informed her.

Caroline saw the pain in his eyes and immediately regretted saying what she had. But she had meant it. He was evil. "Why?" she asked with edge. "You're so lonely and urgent for passion and love, but you continue to ruin and destroy things, and push people away!" Klaus turned his head and chuckled, like what she was saying was ridiculous. "Do you realize the irony in that?" she almost demanded, letting her hands fall from his shoulders and continuing to stare at his face.

"I'm not lonely," he snarled, looking back at her and glaring. "Never once have I said I needed anyone. I happen to be perfectly fine on my own."

"No, see, you're lying," Caroline caught. "If you were fine being alone, you wouldn't keep raking your family in. You wouldn't do everything in your power to make sure you have hybrids around. And you most certainly wouldn't be chasing me!" she scoffed.

Klaus ground his teeth together in thought. She had him there. Caroline raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to reply. Klaus inhaled. "I keep my family around because I promised I'd be there for them, always," he informed, completely honestly. "And I consider my hybrids my own personal army. So, yes, I am going to continue to 'keep them around'," he snapped, happy he had improvised.

"And me?" Caroline pushed further. "What's your excuse for needing me around?" she demanded, wanting to know what his answer could possibly be.

Klaus breathed deeply and leaned closer in on her. "I don't need you," he growled, right up in her face.

Caroline narrowed her eyes back at him. "Prove it," she snarled back.

The two of them glared at one another, waiting for the other to make a move. They were only inches away from nearly attacking one another. Klaus felt his upper lip start to snarl at her. What was he supposed to do now? Back down? Run? Prove it? That was the only thing to do, prove it to her…

Klaus tilted his head. "Goodbye, Caroline. I'll say goodbye to Tyler for you, too," he slurred, then flashed out of the house, into his car and left before Caroline could reply.

But she didn't intend to reply. He'd come back. She knew it.

But he didn't come back.

A week past after the blow out, and Caroline hadn't heard anything from or about Klaus. Now, a week was nothing. Nothing for a human, and absolutely nothing for a vampire; but a week without knowing what Klaus was doing, what he was feeling, who he was killing, and what has happening to Tyler was completely killing Caroline.

She felt lost, like she wasn't needed any longer. She couldn't take it. She hadn't been afraid at first, but now she was worried to no end. What if Klaus really didn't need her? Had she gone too far? Much too far? She didn't know what to do? She was starting to feel desperate for him.

And Tyler was the last thing on her mind, at this point…

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><p>So? Whatcha think? I know, it was sad, and pointless. BUT You're wrong! It has a point! haha<p>

I'm gonna get a new story out soon: **Truth Be Told**. Caroline get's a truth spell put on her, so she has to cope with telling the truth and getting into bad circumstances where she can't fib. Gonna be a Caroline/Klaus story...for now, I might make it a Caroline/Klaus/Kol thing...What do you think? Tell me in a review!

I'm Beta-ing now! So anyone that wants a beta, I'm open!

Thank you all for reading! I love you all! Now click that purple **Review** button down there! (Oh yeah, why did they make it purple?)


	11. The Changing of Minds

Caroline marched up the stairs to Klaus' mansion. This was the first real contact she was going to get. She had sent him a letter a few days ago, and he had seemed to completely ignore it. She'd also texted him this morning, once again, nothing in return. But because he didn't reply to the text, she was worried. She'd practically told him she was going crazy without him, and he didn't seem to care.

Caroline watched the door, afraid to do anything, but it just started opening on its own. Caroline's breath picked up and she felt her hands become moist. This was it…

But it wasn't. It was only Kol. "Oh, Miss Forbes," he smiled, in a sick way. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Caroline shifted. "Where is Klaus?" She tried to look behind him, like Klaus might be stalking somewhere in view.

"Not here," Kol answered, moving his head right in the way of Caroline's sight to the inside of the house. "He went out a while ago. But you're free to stay until he gets back," Kol purred.

Suddenly there was an arm that was pushing Kol from the side, and an annoyed blonde stepped into view. "Don't be ridiculous, Kol. She doesn't want to stay here," Rebekah said, not giving Caroline an option, but giving her a look that told her to leave before they had a problem.

Caroline didn't want to deal with this right now. "Do you know where he went?" she asked hurriedly.

Rebekah tilted her head at her and narrowed her eyes. "No, I don't know. But I'm sure you can sniff him out if the need arises," she said with a smirk.

Caroline frowned. What that supposed to be taken offensively in some way? She didn't understand, so she just nodded at the two, and turned around and headed back to her car.

"Have a nice day!" Kol called after her. Caroline merely waved her hand backwards, almost like she was dismissing him.

She got in her car and sighed as she started it. She pulled out of their driveway. She had no idea where she intended to go, or do, now. Would he be at the boarding house? Possibly?

Caroline took out her phone and called Stefan, not wanting to go to the boarding house just to find more disappointment. She waited for him to answer while listening to the constant sound of the annoying ringing…

"Hey Barbie!" someone answered.

"Where's Stefan?" Caroline demanded.

There was a hiss, like someone was inhaling while thinking. "Yeah…You see Stefan isn't in the position to be talking to anyone right now. But if you wanted your curling iron back from him, I'm sure I can get it for you."

"Damon! Where is Stefan?" Caroline yelled, hitting the driving wheel with her palm. She glared at some woman outside that had given her a funny look.

"He's just busy! God, can't the poor man ever get a break?" Damon snapped, but still somehow being funny. "What do you need from him, Blondie?"

Caroline sighed. "Is Klaus at the house?"

"Your boyfriend? No, I'm afraid he isn't. Why? Trouble in paradise?" he teased.

"What makes you think he's my boyfriend?" Caroline snapped. She knew for a fact that she and Klaus hadn't been seen in public by anyone else….or have they?

"Well enemies don't usually suck the peanut butter off one another's fingers," Damon ratted.

"Where did you see that?" Caroline barked.

"He was driving you home from somewhere…I don't know. What are you planning, anyway?" he asked.

Oh no, she thought. He thinks I have a plan behind it all…

"Well I can't tell you or everyone will find out," she lied, just buying herself time.

"Caroline, tell me," he said in a warning tone.

"Can't, Damon. Sorry. I have to go now! Bye!" she said in a way too happy voice.

"Caro-!" she cut him off, and could practically hear him sneer at her after she clicked end.

Where else was Klaus, then? Where else could he be?

Caroline sighed and decided to go home; he might have gone to see her at the same time. She slowly drove down the street to which her house stood, and almost gasped as she drew near her house and saw a figure up next to her window, leaning on a tree.

She pulled into her driveway quickly and shut off the car in a flash. "Klaus," she addressed, just then starting to open her door and climb out. She could just see him around the corner of the house. She shut her door and jogged around the house. "Klaus!" she called.

He was standing on a thick branch, casually leaning against the trunk. He had heard her call and looked down to watch her run towards him. He smiled down at her and started walking across the branch. "Ah, you're home," he announced.

"What are you doing up there?" she asked, stalling.

Klaus jumped down from the tree and landed with a thud right in front of her. "Looking for you," he answered. He looked at the car she had just pulled up in. "Where were you?" he quizzed her.

Caroline shook her head. "Looking for you," she answered, repeating him.

Klaus nodded, like he was casually agreeing with her. But when he looked back to her eyes, he lost all hesitancy he'd had. "Caroline," he said, preparing himself. "You were right," he admitted. "I've been restless since last week, and when I received your message this morning, I couldn't take it any longer." He took a slow breath. "I guess I really do need you," he sighed.

Caroline stared at him in relief. Everything she had planned on saying didn't seem important any more. He knew she had had a hard time, also…right? Yes. He had to know that. It would be impossible for him to look past that.

But he didn't know. He had no idea when it came to Caroline. But he wouldn't hear it, either, for Caroline continued without mentioning it. "So, I take it then, you're not going to leave me again?" she clarified.

Klaus stared at her seriously. "Not unless you want me to," he decided, giving her the option.

Caroline shook her head almost immediately. "No. I don't want you to leave." She laughed. "Would I have started looking for you if I wanted you to leave again?"

Klaus didn't laugh. "Yes. You very well could have," he corrected, thinking of how she could have searched for him only to get Tyler back.

Caroline became serious along with him. Her eyes fell to his chest and she raised her eyebrows. "Well I didn't," she said matter-of-factly.

Klaus watched her carefully. "Then what did you want me back for?"

Caroline stared at him with the expression that told him she clearly hadn't thought of that. What did she want him back for? It wasn't because she missed him. That would be impossible. There was no way that she, Caroline Forbes, had missed Klaus, the son of the devil. Caroline was clueless. She just knew she didn't want him to leave her like that again.

"Tyler," she answered, finding that was the only answer she could give him. But it was the wrong answer. Klaus felt crushed immediately, and Caroline felt confused beyond belief.

"Tyler," Klaus repeated, losing every piece of hope he had had previously. "Of course."

Caroline breathed deeply. She wanted to tell Klaus the truth…but she didn't know what the truth was. She had no idea what she was feeling, and she hated herself for it. So she made up the most believable thing she could think of.

"I need Tyler back. He needs to be back with me. And no matter what you do, no matter where you go, or what you tell me…I will find you in the end, and I will stop at nothing to get him," she said with sad eyes.

Yes, she thought. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. Tyler. He should be the only thing on my mind….

Klaus nodded slowly, letting her know he at least acknowledged her words. "Very well. But I still stand by the deal we made," he reminded her of it.

Caroline frowned. "Oh yeah, forgot about that…" she admitted.

Klaus took a step towards her. "You can change it, if you like," he offered. "Right now, say the word, and the deal is off. I can feed on humans once more, and you can find Tyler on your own accord." He looked at her with a waiting expression, head bowed, staring at her over his eyebrows.

Caroline shook her head almost immediately. "No," she denied. "No, we're sticking to the deal. I'm still your 'girlfriend' and you _will_ give me Tyler, soon. And no, you're still not allowed to eat humans," she said, completely sure with her answer.

Klaus felt happy, but upset when she had to include the part about him giving her Tyler, soon. "Alright then," he replied casually. "I guess that's settled." He swallowed slowly.

"I guess so," she mumbled, looking like she was slightly unsure about everything. She was frowning at the ground in front of him, like she was in a trance. She inhaled suddenly, and looked back up to his face. "When do I get him back?" she asked, for the billionth time.

Klaus closed incredibly slowly in annoyance. "I don't know, Caroline," he whispered, then finally opened his eyes. "Whenever I decide."

"And how long will that take? You might not ever make a decision. You could just keep me around forever insisting that you're 'still deciding,'" she said in a mildly angered mood.

Klaus shook his head calmly. "I won't," he said barely over a whisper. His voice was husky, and he looked tired. "You have my word," he promised.

Caroline relaxed right there. Having his word meant everything. She basically had his life on this one.

"Excellent," she sighed, then stopped moving and her eyes got wide as if she'd seen a ghost…which wouldn't have been the first time for her. "I did not just say that," she grumbled.

Klaus chuckled. "There, you see?" he asked, coming up close to her…too close. "You want to be just like me," he mused.

Caroline pushed him with her elbow. "We've been over this. I don't want to be like my boyfriends," she smiled, remembering the first time they had discussed this. She turned around and started heading for the house, not wanting to replay that night.

She heard the soft sound of Klaus' feet following her against the ground. She wished the footsteps were Tyler's. She really did. The more she tolerated and allowed Klaus to become more 'friendly' with her, the more she missed Tyler and felt terrible about getting him back in this manner.

Caroline approached the porch, but was too far in thought to realize how close to the door she was. Why am I letting Klaus do this? she asked herself. I can find Tyler without his "help". And even if I am his fake girlfriend now…I shouldn't be giving him all this attention, should I? No! Finding him this morning was something I should not have done…But that doesn't mean he can't stay, does it?

She came up to the door, and was so far in space that she forgot it was locked and began pushing and turning the handle. Klaus sighed behind her. "If the door had been unlocked, I wouldn't have gone to your window," he reminded; too bad she didn't hear him at all. She just continued to space out at the door and turn the handle.

Klaus frowned and stepped up right behind her. He reached his hand out and placed it on hers, gently turning her hand, which turned the door handle and the door slowly released into the house. "Oh, I guess it was unlocked…" He kept his hand resting on her still outstretched one, staring at her with concern. "Caroline?" he asked, trying to snap her to reality.

It worked. Caroline blinked and looked at him. "What?" she asked, confused. "Oh, sorry," she mumbled, coming to her sense. But then she realized his hand was on hers, and she froze. But only for a second, for she inhaled and snatched her hand to her side before quickly walking away from his chest and into the house.

Caroline dropped her purse on a table as she walked to the kitchen. Klaus shut her front door and slowly followed. Thinking about everything she'd just told him. She went to her refrigerator and began digging through the freezer. Klaus circled her counter and leaned his elbows on it. He was on the outside of the counter as she was in the other side. She pulled out a large container of vanilla ice cream out and set it down on the counter next to Klaus as she got a spoon for herself.

Klaus frowned at her as he thought hard. "So, where exactly do we stand now?" he asked as she opened the lid of the container.

Caroline glanced at him and went back to the frozen cream. "I don't know." She flopped her hands on the counter suddenly and looked up at the ceiling. "Well…I know where I _want_ it to go," she admitted, then looked at him, "but I don't know if it's gonna work…" she said slowly, like she was thinking.

"And where do you want it to go?" Klaus asked, truly wanting to know her thoughts.

Caroline looked at him with a thoughtful face, biting the inside corner of her lip. "I want to just act like you never left. Because, before you did, we were finally starting to get along…kinda… So, can we just do that? Stop acting like everything is revolved around Tyler?" she asked, acting like it was Klaus' fault that Tyler always ended up in their conversations.

Klaus frowned at her. "I'm not the one that revolves it around Tyler, sweetheart," he corrected.

"Well no…" she admitted, "But you're the one that constantly thinks the only reason I'm tolerating you is because of him. How are you ever going to trust me if you keep the thought that Tyler's behind it all in your head?" she questioned, having a very valid point. "So, the sooner you—we forget that Tyler is even involved in this, the sooner everything will come together."

Klaus was about to make her explain what was 'going to come together,' but he knew that would somehow be translated as something else in her mind, him being stubborn or something. So he just let it be. Didn't elaborate on it any more.

Klaus nodded, still in thought. "You really want to do this, don't you? To get Tyler?" Klaus asked.

Caroline widened her eyes at him, giving the look that asked, 'did you not just listen to what I said?' "See, stop thinking like that! Tyler should be the furthest thing from your mind right now," she huffed, digging her spoon into the top of the ice cream.

"Is he the furthest from yours?" Klaus tried her.

She stopped, and stared at the counter in shame. "No, he's not… But I'm keeping it to myself, and I'm trying to think of something else." She looked at him with a judging look. "At least I'm trying."

She looked down and went back to the ice cream in front of her. She didn't get a bowl or anything, just took her spoon and went straight in at the large container.

Klaus frowned at the vanilla as she ate it. Caroline took the spoon from her mouth and looked at him. "Care for some?" she offered.

Klaus looked at the container, then at the freezer. "Do you have chocolate?" he asked, letting the earlier question go, but being serious. He truly wasn't a huge fan of just vanilla. Caroline rolled her eyes and went towards the refrigerator. She pulled out a bottle of chocolate syrup and placed it on the counted next to Klaus. Klaus raised his eyebrows at it. "Now how is this supposed to work?"

Caroline stared at him in shock. "You've never worked liquid chocolate?" she asked in dismay.

"I've worked chocolate before, but normally it's in a bowl. You, on the other hand, seem to not be that well-mannered," he said.

Caroline tilted her head at him and licked the inside of her cheek as she scooped out another spoonful of ice cream, and then opened the chocolate and dropped a few drips on it. She then held it out to him with a look of accomplishment. Klaus took the spoon from her and ate it. He then gave her a quizzical look. "It's not as good as when it is in a bowl!" he denied.

Caroline glared at him and took the spoon back. She then continued to eat her vanilla ice cream in front of him. Klaus rubbed the roof of his mouth with his tongue, getting all the remaining chocolate out of his mouth. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked.

Caroline let her shoulders fall forward in exhaustion. "I have the auction papers to fill out. It's in two days," she moaned, like she had forgotten up until he mentioned it.

"And you're not excited for it?" he asked, frowning. "I thought you spent the past weeks preparing for it."

Caroline shifted her weight onto her other foot and leaned on the counter. "I have been. I've been working really hard. I just feel like it's not going to be good enough. And to top that off, I found out yesterday that I'm not allowed to buy anything!" she whined.

Klaus took the spoon from her once more and got more ice cream on it. "What were you going to buy?" he asked. He was planning on getting her whatever she had wanted.

Caroline shrugged. "Nothing." Klaus frowned at her. "It just would have been nice knowing I _could_ have gotten something…" she complained.

Klaus shook his head as he took the chocolate and tilted it over the spoon. "Careful, it comes out—" Caroline had tried to warn him, but he had already started squeezing the bottle, and a rush of chocolate flooded out the end of the nozzle. "Fast…" she finished, trying to put her hand under the bottle to catch most of it out of the air.

Klaus didn't look like he was surprised at all. He just slowly started to tilt the bottle upwards and placed it down again before taking one of Caroline's chocolate covered hands and lightly running the spoon of ice cream in the pool of flavoring in her palm.

She scoffed at him. He put the spoonful of food into his mouth and smirked at her around the spoon. "Klaus!" she shamed. He laughed and took the spoon out of his mouth, watching her. She raised her eyebrows in a daring way at him, and suddenly reached forward and ran her hand through his hair.

Klaus jumped away from her hand, but only after she had smeared the brown syrup all over his scalp. He became very serious and upset. "How mature," he commented, walking around the counter and making his way to the sink that was right beside Caroline.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Klaus turned on the water and just stared at it, letting it run. They both were thinking the same thing. "How do you plan on getting that out?" she said aloud, truly finding this funny.

Klaus turned his head over his shoulder and had a devilish look in his eyes. He turned the water off. Stepping to the side, he placed his arm on the counter, and ran it quickly clear to the end, sending every object that had sat on the surface crashing to the ground.

Caroline made some sort of annoyed, upset noise, but just watched as he jumped up onto the counter and laid down on it. He scooted up until his head was hanging over the side of the sink. "Come on," he summoned her, folding his hands on his stomach. "You caused it, you're fixing it."

Caroline frowned at him. "Are you seriously telling me to wash your hair?" she scoffed. Klaus didn't answer, just shifted until he was comfortable. Caroline sighed in displeasure and stalked a few steps closer until she was directly above him and in front of the sink. She hovered her hands over the sink and raised her eyebrows. "Can you turn on the water?" she requested, seeing as her hands were covered in chocolate.

Klaus reached up behind his head and turned one of the faucets on. Caroline rinsed her hands off with difficulty. She sneered at her hands in disgust and tried to rub them together harder. Klaus looked up at her face with amusement. He chuckled.

Caroline looked at him with just her eyes. "What?" she demanded.

Klaus smirked at her. "Having problems?" he asked, referring to her hands.

"No," she said matter-of-factly. She pulled the sprayer out of its place and pressed the handle a couple of times, checking the power of the water that she would transfer from the faucet to the hose. When she was content with it, she held it over his head, smirked, and pressed the handle, spraying his head with steaming hot water.

Klaus groaned and reached over to turn off the water in a flash.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

Klaus glared up at her. "Just wash my hair," he commanded. "With water that won't burn the flesh off my head!" he warned.

Caroline chuckled and turned the water to warm, then started again. She drenched his hair and then started working her fingers into his thick hair. She started massaging his scalp, and he unintentionally closed his eyes.

Caroline smiled at his calm, relaxed face and started closing her fingers around his hair and gently pulling, scraping the chocolate out of his hair. She was basically combing his hair with her fingers. Klaus reached back with his hand and carefully adjusted the temperature to his liking.

"Here, hold this," Caroline instructed, referring to the hose she held in her hand. Klaus looked up at her hand above his head and reached for it. When he had a grip on it, she rushed away, up the stairs, to the bathroom, and then returned with a bottle of shampoo in her hands.

"I swear, Caroline, if that's flowery scented…" he started to warn, not needing to finish the sentence.

Caroline laughed and turned the water off. She placed some of the shampoo onto her fingers and slowly started massaging it into his hair. Klaus' eyes fell shut once more as he relaxed into her fingers.

Caroline smiled lightly down at him again as she cleansed his scalp. He looked so innocent, so content, so different than the Big Bad Klaus he usually was. And Caroline was loving it.

But the moment was over far too soon as she rinsed the suds out of his hair and watched them flood down the drain. Klaus inhaled a hiss as he came back to the present and looked back at Caroline. "Finished, darling?" he asked, before he started to sit up.

"Yeah," she mumbled, reaching for a towel to dry her hands off on. But then she remembered his drenched head. "Wait!" she placed the towel on his head and started rubbing her hand over it, making him make annoyed little moans and grunts.

"Caroline," he said, pulling her hand from his head as he sat up straight on the counter. "I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, thank you." He jumped off the counter and headed for a cleaner towel behind Caroline.

"Yeah, well you were perfectly capable of washing your hair by yourself, too," she commented, not moving out of his way.

He had to step closer to her to reach the towel, and when his fingers finally made contact, he was pressing her back to the counter with his own chest. Caroline's breath had stopped, and so had her mind, as she brought a hand up to brace herself on his firm chest.

Klaus looked down at her with dripping hair as he ever-so-slowly brought the towel towards himself. She locked eyes with him and they both felt her heartbeat increase. That's why she nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone started ringing from her pocket. Caroline looked down and fumbled with her phone as she pulled it out of her jeans and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, looking up and seeing with shock that Klaus hadn't moved back at all. His chest was still right up against hers.

"Hey, Caroline!" It was Stefan. "Damon and I are planning on…well basically a stake-out tonight," he started to explain.

Klaus lifted his hand up and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "Um," she choked out, not comfortable with Klaus touching her while she talked to his enemy on the phone. "What are you doing staking-out?" she asked, looking up at Klaus.

Klaus brought the hand that had been holding the towel behind her, up to her back and rubbed his hand up to her neck, making her start to panic.

"At the Original's manor. We think they're up to something, bigger than usual," Stefan explained.

Klaus smirked at the phone and bowed his head, getting his face closer to Caroline's. She felt his very shallow breath on her cheek and stuttered in panic as she replied to Stefan. "W-well what are they planning?" she asked, glaring at Klaus, knowing exactly what he was doing.

He was trying to distract her, just like he was a teenage boy or some immature creature.

"Something to do with Elena, again, and so we're trying to do everything we can to learn facts…"

Caroline gave him a sassy look that let him know she wasn't falling for it any longer, and he raised his eyebrows at her. She straightened out her back confidentially and cleared her throat. "So are you asking me to join you tonight, Stefan?" she practically purred.

Klaus, in return to her move, wrapped his hands around her sides and pushed his head around her blonde hair and started kissing her neck.

Caroline faintly, but surly, yelped at the contact and came undone once more. She felt out of place, but tried to act sure on the phone.

"Yes. So, can you? Could use your help," he offered.

Klaus trailed his hands up her sides and moved his head to her earlobe. He bit her ear softly and tugged with just enough effort to make her moan.

"Caroline?" Stefan checked, becoming confused.

"Yeah! I'm here," she answered, trying to push Klaus with one arm. "No, Stefan, I'd love to join, but I've got stuff I need to work on tonight," she declined. She pursed her lips at Klaus and gave him an angered look.

"Oh, alright then," Stefan murmured, clearly disappointed. "I guess we'll have to get back to you later with what we find out," he mumbled.

Caroline felt a chill go down her back as Klaus kissed along her jaw line. "Yeah!" she yelled at Stefan. "I have to go, though. So…" she started to trail off as she again tried to push Klaus with her elbow. But, of course, he didn't budge.

Stefan hummed an agreement. "Alright, I'll get back to you soon." And with that, he hung up.

Caroline brought the phone from her ear, clicked end, and placed it on the counter so she could shove Klaus back with both hands. He was laughing.

"You're an ass," she affirmed him, turning to go back to the ice cream she had gotten out previously.

Klaus walked around the counter once more and smirked. "You enjoyed it."

Caroline glared at him even harder as she placed another spoon full of ice cream into her mouth. But he was right. She enjoyed it….


	12. The Helping of the Community

Caroline was in the park again, working with Mrs. Canson about the auction. This was their last day of planning, the auction was tomorrow, and they were almost done.

"But, what about the banner?" Caroline asked, looking at her clipboard of things to be done. A total of five things remained. Hang the banner, get extra chairs set up, make sure the stage was cleared off, make sure the bus gets out of the area before tomorrow, and clean up anything they forget.

Mrs. Canson, whom Caroline was talking to, turned around to look at what they'd done. "The banner must go above the stage. I don't want it at the entrance any more. And get the bus moved!" instructed the woman, storming off to the side to deal with something else.

"Yes ma'am," Caroline sassed under her breath, looking back to her notes. She was writing something down when she felt something lightly grazing both of her sides, up under her arms. She jumped and spun around to see nothing. She frowned and looked to see if there was a bug or something on her…on both sides…

She shook off the feeling, convincing herself that she was imagining it, but then she felt it again, except this time on the outsides of her arms and on the back on her neck, going through her hair. She squealed and turned around to crash into Klaus, looking highly amused with himself.

"Klaus!" she snapped, smacking his arm and untangling herself from his arms that had caught her as she'd ran into him.

"You know, for a vampire, you really do scare easily," he commented.

"Well maybe if you weren't sneaking up on me, I wouldn't have to be scared!" she scolded. But she soon ignored him and headed for the stage, picking up the folded banner off of a chair she passed.

Klaus reached for her hand as he followed her. "Come with me," he said, kind of asking more than telling.

"I can't. I've got to finish up here," Caroline said, in all truth.

"What are you doing, exactly, love?" asked Klaus as he followed her, holding her hand in his own.

"The auction. We've been over this," she answered, pulling her hand out of his and stepping up the couple stairs that led to the higher stage. She made her way for the ladder at the side of the stage, and was about to climb it, but Klaus stopped her by holding her waist still with his hand so she couldn't walk.

"Oh, no you don't. Not in those heals," he said, taking the banner from her and climbing the ladder himself. Caroline dropped her hands to her sides and watched him climb and do the work for her. She smiled to herself as she started to turn away. He really was sweet….

No! She turned back to her clipboard to take her mind off of it. Make sure the stage was cleared off… She turned around to see a clear stage. Check, she thought, as long as Klaus doesn't fall and ruin things…

Get extra chairs. Caroline took a breath and started walking across the stage, towards the stairs so she could make her way to the school. She got off the steps and about three steps further, when she was stopped by Mrs. Canson. "Who is that man up there?" she asked, looking at Klaus as he started to come off from the ladder.

Caroline waved her hand like it was no big deal. "Just another volunteer."

"Well he's a bit late…" she tsked. "I don't like him. He seems like a lazy bum. How much more do you have to do?" she asked, snooping over Caroline's list. "Get to it, girl. And move that bus!" she ordered, walking away just as Klaus came up to Caroline's side.

Klaus' chest was almost touching Caroline's arm as they both watched the stern woman walk away. "I don't like her," Klaus mumbled in Caroline's ear. "She really has no right talking to you like that," he said with protection of Caroline.

"She's just trying to get everything done on time," Caroline excused her as she started to head for the school again.

"Well that's no excuse. The woman could show a little respect," Klaus said, following her once more. "I swear, if she tells you to 'move that bus' one more time I'm going to run her over," Klaus snarled. Caroline chuckled.

"You will not," she informed him, shaking her head and stopping in front of the building she had been walking towards.

"Oh? No one's stopping me, love."

"I am," Caroline said, turning back to him as she opened one of the doors to the high school. Klaus took the door from her and held it open as she walked in, followed by him.

The hallway was completely empty and quite dark as they descended down it. "I hate schools…" Klaus mumbled. "Where are we going?" he snarled.

Caroline sighed. "I've got to get some extra chairs to set up," she answered, coming to a stop in front of a reasonably small door. She turned the handle, and as she pulled it open, brooms and sticks, and other cleaning utensils started to fall out in a clash. Caroline held her hands up and ducked, trying to save herself; but Klaus had already reached forward and stopped them all on his arm before they hit Caroline. "What the hell!" Caroline moaned into her arms, still ducking from the stopped flood of things.

Klaus started pushing everything back into the closet and took the door and shut it before it started falling again, letting it remain there for the next person to open the door. He turned around and frowned. "Now, I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think that a bunch of chairs are going to be in that tiny closet," he observed.

Caroline glared at him. "I had the wrong door," she answered, turning around and starting to walk off.

"I don't see how you can get the wrong door," he commented, following her yet again. "You did go to school here for four years, did you not?" he interrogated.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Klaus, shut up," she instructed.

Klaus sighed at her unpleasant attitude towards him, but did indeed stop talking.

Caroline came to a stop in front of another door, similar to the previous one. She checked the tag on the wall next to it to make sure she had the right one this time. Klaus would never let it go if she opened another wrong door. Positive this was it, she opened the door that led to a pitch black small room.

"Wrong door again, sweetheart?" he asked.

Caroline turned back to him, frowning. "No. This is it," she corrected.

Klaus gave her an 'are you an idiot' look and pointed behind her into the room. "That is the size of your closet," he informed her. "There's not going to be a bundle of extra folding chairs in there."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm the one that went to school here. I know what I'm doing."

"Says the woman that just got attacked by cleaning utensils because she opened the wrong door," he snapped.

Caroline punched him in the shoulder before turning around. What Klaus didn't know, is that there was another door in here that led to a storage room for extra chairs, desks, chalk boards…school stuff. The small area they were in now was just for toilet paper, pencils, chalk… small, school stuff.

She took a step into the small black room and started feeling around for the light switch. Klaus took a step in behind her and closed the door right behind him. Caroline gasped and turned around suddenly in the darkness, running into Klaus' chest.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. Her hands were up by her neck, which made the backs of her forearms press against his chest as he held her elbows, stabilizing her. "Open the door!" she commanded.

"Find the light," he retorted, not touching the door behind him.

Caroling growled in irritation and took out her cellphone, turning it on and using its small light source to look at Klaus' face. He immediately took it from her and put it in his pocket. "No cheating," he said simply.

Caroline blinked into the blackness. "Klaus, open the door, now. This isn't funny."

Klaus frowned, which she didn't see. "Are you afraid of the dark?" he asked seriously, it was a possibility.

Caroline forced out a chuckle and dropped her hands down to her sides. "Are you insane?" she laughed. She made to reach behind him for the door, but Klaus knew what she was going to try before she did it. He took her outstretched hand and spun her around; then moved to the side when she came to a stop, making it so she didn't know where the door was for he was no longer in front of it.

Caroline had yelped quietly when he'd spun her, and then reached forward and held onto a wall when she came to a stop. "Klaus!" she snapped, not knowing where he was.

Klaus knew exactly where she was. He could sense the body heat radiating off of her. She was almost right next to the door, leaning on the wall. Klaus was directly behind her.

"Would you just turn the damn light on?" she requested. Klaus remained silent. Caroline growled in irritation and stood up off the wall. "You… are a very difficult person. Yes, to answer your question, I do have a problem with the dark. Things…happen when I can't see it coming…" she confessed.

Klaus frowned and softly smiled, thinking that was cute. He took a few steps towards her, extending his arms to land his hands on her sides. Caroline let go of the wall and stood up straight, startled by his touch. "It's just me," he whispered from behind her into her ear. "I'm the only one in here."

Caroline exhaled. "That's what I'm worried about," she informed him.

Klaus chuckled. "There's no need to be frightened of me, love," he said against the back of her neck, moving his hands to wrap around her. Caroline placed a hand on his wrist. "I won't hurt you."

Caroline was playing him on, and she was doing well. She forced herself to breath shakily and stand like she felt uneasy. She brought her other hand up behind her own head and put it on the back of Klaus' neck. "I know you won't," Caroline whispered back, totally playing him.

But Klaus had no idea. He smirked into her hair. "Much…" He started kissing her arm that extended past his face to his neck. Caroline bit back a laugh at his kinky remark, but couldn't keep back the laugh.

She exhaled a laugh and pulled her hand back to push his chest away from her, laughing the whole time. Klaus frowned, confused at her sudden change in behavior. She turned around and stared into the dark. "I've told you before and I'll say it again: I'm too smart to be seduced by you," she said smugly, pushing past him towards the second door. She'd known where it was the entire time. Klaus stared after her footsteps in the dark, a glare on his face.

Caroline found the light in the larger room and flicked it on, revealing almost a hidden room full of chairs, stools, chalk boards, and other school things. "Alright," Caroline began, moving further into the room towards a bundle of chairs. "We'll take…twenty out, and that should be good," she said aloud as she calculated in her mind.

"No," Klaus corrected, taking a hand and motioning her back away from the chairs. "I'll take them out. You just manage the doors." He then began lifting chairs into his arms.

Caroline frowned at him. The first time he had taken over for her, it was sweet; but now it was just a dominate thing. "I can get some of the chairs, Klaus."

"I know you can, darling, but I'm going to," he retorted, continuing to stack his one arm. He had a total of fifteen chairs on his arm before Caroline came in and picked up the final five, getting in his way. Klaus gave her a look of annoyance and turned for the door.

Luckily, Caroline could balance all of the chairs on one of her arms so she could control doors as they exited the building.

On their way back out, both of them squinted at the bright sun. It was getting later, almost three o'clock, and they were to be done at that time. "Crap!" Caroline muttered. She walked swiftly over to the area full of tables and original chairs. She placed the extra five she was carrying against a table that would soon hold auction items.

Klaus aligned the chairs in his arms next to the ones Caroline had just arranged and then turned back to her just as that snarky woman came over to them. "Caroline! It is three o'clock and you haven't even completed your tasks."

"Mrs. Canson, I've only got a couple more _small_ things to-" Caroline tried to explain, but she was cut short.

"I don't care how many things you've got left. I wanted them done at three o'clock pronto, and you have failed me," she scolded.

"You gave me two hours to complete nearly a hundred thin-" Caroline scoffed, but was again cut off.

"I'll give you one more chance. I'm going into the school for one more thing, and if you're not done, you're not getting the credit I agreed to give you." And with that, the woman turned to leave, but not without ordering behind her, "And make sure that bus gets moved!"

Klaus mumbled in annoyance and headed for the bus. "Klaus! Don't you dare!"

Klaus didn't answer her, just turned his head to ask her a question. "Which car belongs to that she-devil?"

"The white Honda in the corner of the school… Why?" Caroline demanded. Klaus merely waved her off like a fly.

Klaus climbed inside of the bus and turned it on. He scanned the parking lot until he saw the car Caroline had described, parked in front of the school, with a brick wall on one side and a car on the other. Klaus maneuvered the bus around with difficulty but managed to get it over to his destination.

He parked it right behind the white Honda, trapping it in the corner, with absolutely no way to get out.

Caroline, despite the awful predicament, laughed out loud.

Klaus exited the bus with the keys in his hand. He came up to Caroline and held the keys up for her to see, before he launched them up in the air, and on top of the school building. "Klaus!" Caroline laughed.

Klaus turned back to her and took the clipboard out of her hand along with the pen attached at the top. "Move the bus…Done," he said as he scribbled out the task and handed it back to Caroline with a proud smirk. He leaned in quickly and placed a kiss on her cheek. "You're welcome."

Caroline ignored the simple kiss and stared after the keys he had just discarded. "I'm going to get in so much trouble for that!" she complained, looking down at the scribbled out task.

"Did you tell her who I was?" Klaus asked, folding his hands behind his back.

"No."

"Then just tell her it was me, and life will be good again," he smiled, taking her arm and leading her away from the scene. "And this place looks spectacular, so you're finished," he decided for her.

Caroline looked behind her and saw that he was pretty much dead on. She shrugged and headed for her car, with Klaus, as you guessed, right behind her.

"Alright," Klaus started. He was standing almost right next to her as she placed her purse and clipboard and everything into the passenger's seat. "Now will you come with me?" Klaus asked.

Caroline sighed. "Where are you going to take me?" she questioned. She closed the door to her car and rested against the hood, crossing her arms and looking at him with a waiting expression.

"My house."

She frowned. "Why?"

Klaus sighed and looked around; making sure no one was watching them. But it didn't matter. He wasn't going to say anything superficial anyway. "I just wish to speak with you," he answered innocently, then finally looked back to her face.

Caroline waited. "…About?" she dragged out her word.

"Anything and everything."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, how specific!"

Klaus frowned at her. "Is it wrong to want a date with you at my own house?" he inclined.

"Yes!" Caroline exasperated. "It's all wrong! You shouldn't even like me to begin with."

Here she went again.

"Yes, yes. We've been over this many times. But no matter how many times you tell me what I should and shouldn't do, it won't change anything," he began.

Caroline sighed in exhaustion. "That's because you're the most stubborn man I've ever met," she snapped.

"Caroline, we just got out of a fight; must we jump straight back into another?" he sighed, not wanting her to be upset with him any longer.

"Yes, Klaus, we must. Because it's the only thing that can reassure me that I'm still sane," she hissed, getting up off the car and heading for the driver's door. But Klaus was one step ahead of her.

He had flashed to right in front of the door the second after she got up off the car. But Caroline didn't notice him there until she had gone to reach for the handle, but saw a leg there in its place. She dropped her hand to her side and clenched her jaw in irritation as she looked back up to his face.

Klaus had his eyes narrowed at her, almost like he was thinking. "You're always quick to make sure you don't let yourself go when you're around me. Why?" he inquired.

"Because, in case you haven't noticed, you're the bad guy," Caroline answered with an edge. "And girls like me don't 'let ourselves go' with bad guys." She made to reach for the handle that was behind him, but he didn't budge, so she dropped her hand before she made contact with him.

"And where is that written?" Klaus questioned.

"Everywhere! Movies, TV, books, fairy tales. They all end with the hero getting the girl, which, in this case, would be Tyler," she said smugly in his face.

Klaus ignored her reference to Tyler. "Then I guess it's time we wrote our own fairy tale."

"Oh really," Caroline retorted darkly, losing all the tolerance she had had for him. "How would that end, then? The villain only gets the girl because he blackmailed her after he killed her one true love? Forever convincing himself that he and the girl 'share something', when in reality, all she has for him is a burning passion of pure hate?" She tilted her head at him, anger in her eyes. "Because that's how it's all playing out now, Klaus."

Klaus fought the urge to snap at her right there. He nodded, deciding to let her go thinking she had won. He stepped out of the way a single pace. Caroline watched him and went to open the door. When she got it open, she stepped into the opening to get in, but Klaus reached out and clutched her wrist before she could begin to sit. She snapped her attention to him, anger still on her face.

Klaus returned her look. "That may be what you think now, sweet Caroline," he hissed, "but in the end, I will win your heart over."

Caroline sneered and leaned in close to his face. She whispered, "If only you had something to win my heart over with."

She jerked her arm out of his grasp and got into the car. Klaus stood there, right next to the car, glaring at the nothing of where she had just been standing.

Caroline started the car and slammed on the exhilarator, rushing the car forward and leaving Klaus in the dirt of her wheels, staring after her.

Klaus kicked himself mentally for letting her own him like that. His dignity was definitively being damaged by that woman…

He frowned when he felt vibration in his pocket. He reached down and pulled out Caroline's forgotten phone out of his pocket. She had a new text message from a number she didn't have the name for yet. Being nosy, Klaus opened up the message, to find his worst nightmare when it came to Caroline. The message read,

_Got a new phone. Old one was stolen. Miss you. Be home soon ;) _

_-Tyler_

Klaus quickly deleted the message, not wanting Caroline to know anything about it. But that wouldn't do it. Tyler would continue to contact Caroline now that he had a phone in his possession.

Caroline was going to find out sooner or later…

* * *

><p>I am so sorry for being so far behind on this! I am having internet problems so I'm not able to upload without going to a library an hour away!<p>

Anyway, thank you guys so much for reviewing and especially to those that messaged me and sent me something like "Get it together and get a new chapter up! God!" Haha! It made me feel wanted. Really.

Hope you guys like this, keep the reviews coming, because I'm in love with reading them!


	13. The Middle of Nowhere

Knocking on her front door, Klaus looked down at his feet, preparing himself for her expected bad temper. He heard movement from inside the house, and then footsteps approaching the door. He looked up to the door, readying himself for when the door would open.

It flew open quickly, and some of Caroline's hair flew back from her face with the wind that followed the opening of the door. She had a blank look on her face. She didn't look happy at all. She wore a sundress and had her bangs pulled out of her face and pinned to the back of her head. She was obviously going somewhere.

She glared at Klaus and dropped her hand down from the doorframe. "What?" she snapped.

Klaus forced himself to softly smile at her. "I've planned a date for us," he announced, folding his hands behind his back.

Caroline narrowed her eyes further and folded her arms. She put on a snappy smirk and tilted her head at him. "Too bad. I'm still mad at you."

Klaus sighed. She was still upset with him from their spat the previous day. "For what?" he questioned.

Caroline took a moment to think, staring him down. After about twenty seconds of hardcore staring, she looked to her left and scoffed. "It doesn't matter what it was _about_, point is that I'm still mad."

"You can't remember," Klaus concluded.

Caroline pursed her lips and watched a tree to the left of the house. "Like I said, the point is that I'm—"

"If you cannot remember the reason to which you were angry," he started, cutting her off, "then there's no point in being angry at all," he informed her with his _wisdom_.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Are we done here?" she snapped, looking back to him and dropping her arms from the doorframe to her sides exhaustedly.

"No," Klaus answered immediately, frowning at her like he didn't appreciate her tone of voice. "I have a date planned for the two of us, so come along," he ushered, turning around and holding an arm out for her to take.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Klaus," she retorted, standing still and looking at the back of his head.

Lowering his arm, he looked over his shoulder at her, turning halfway back around. "You have to," he informed her. Caroline raised her eyebrows, questioning him, but he continued before she could speak. "If you don't, I'll dispose of your cellular phone."

Caroline stomped her foot and groaned. "Klaus!"

"Caroline," he said back calmly.

"Just give me my phone!" she instructed. She held out her hand expectantly.

"Klaus raised an eyebrow at her outstretched arm. "I've already given you your price. Take it," he reached over and lowered her hand for her, "or leave it."

Caroline growled and dropped her head back in frustration. "Why can't you just give it to me?"

"Because that would hardly be fair. You have to do something to earn something."

"You didn't do anything to earn my phone in the first place," she snapped, leaning against the doorpost.

Klaus tilted his head at her. "I did. I helped you with the chairs," he explained.

"Against my will."

"I still helped. You cannot deny that."

Caroline took a deep breath, calming herself slightly. "Please give it back," she tried.

"Please come with me," he answered, not giving in.

Caroline groaned in anger, stepped outside of the house, pulled the door into a slam shut behind her, and glared at Klaus.

"Shall we?" he inquired, smirking. He turned towards the car he had parked in the driveway. He held out his arm for her once more. And once more, she didn't take it. She walked right past him, ignoring his arm completely. She marched to his car and threw open the passenger's door before plopping herself down in the leather seat.

Klaus followed her and gently got into his side of the car. Caroline slammed her door shut and smirked at Klaus smugly. He looked at her with an annoyed look. "I understand your frustration, but you don't need to take it out on the car, darling." He closed his own door, softly.

"Yeah well, you can't drive anyway, so I don't see how it matters," she retorted. Klaus gave her a sideways glance and started the car.

Caroline crossed her arms and glared out the window as Klaus pulled out of her driveway and started driving down the road. The car was filled with silence.

"You know it's really annoying when you do this," Caroline informed him suddenly.

"Do what?" he asked, gently pressing on the gas petal, speeding them up.

"Kidnap me and not tell me where we're going."

Klaus smirked. "This is not kidnapping, love."

Caroline turned to look at him instead of out the window. "No? Then what would you refer to it as?" she hissed.

Klaus inhaled deeply, calming himself. "Simply taking you out for a stroll." He turned onto a road he knew would lead them out of town and towards their destination.

"Against my will," she added.

"You willingly got in the car."

"Because you blackmailed me!" Caroline's tone was getting louder with every word. She was determined to beat him in this banter.

"And you're surprised about that?" he retorted almost immediately after she spoke. "I'm not exactly one to come to your doorstep with a smile on my face and graciously return what I have taken from you."

"No. You're the kind that graciously leaves me drawings and jewelry," she sassed. "Why would this be different?"

"Because those were out of admiration, Caroline," he sighed, leaning back in the seat as he watched the yellow lines of the road disappear under the front of the car as he rode along. "This is trying to convince you."

Caroline waited for the end of the statement. But it never came. "Convince me of what?" she persisted.

Klaus had his attention fixed on the road. "Convince you I can be a good man," he said softly. It was almost like he was taking pity on himself. But Caroline wasn't.

She scoffed and looked out her window, propping her elbow up on the arm of the door.

Klaus looked at her, taking his eyes off the road completely. He looked at her admiringly, longingly, and most of all, regretfully. He'd done anything he possibly could to push her away; make her hate him. And now when he wanted her to adore him, it was too late. She already hated him to the core.

He looked back to the road as he thought.

His lame attempts at changing her thoughts about him had only backfired. And now, after about four months of taking her places, giving her things, and fawning over her, she only hated him more.

"Where are we going? And don't tell me it's a surprise or give me the silent treatment. I'm in no way even close to being in the mood to put up with that," Caroline snarled, pulling him from his thoughts.

Klaus nodded his head to the side once, taking a breath. "The middle of nowhere," he answered simply.

Caroline growled and looked over at him. "God, you're unbelievable!"

Klaus turned off of the road they had been cruising on and onto a dirt road that looked completely abandoned; no cars to be seen anywhere.

He flew down the gravel road, leaving clouds of dirt in his wake. After about five minutes of a hard silence in the car, and going over seventy miles per hour, Klaus decided they were far enough away from the rest of the world, and he slowed the car down incredibly fast.

Caroline reached forward and held on to the dashboard as the tires slid on the gravel road. Klaus merely leaned back in his seat and gripped the steering wheel. Once he was slow enough, he turned and pulled up along the side of the road.

The second the car was stopped, Caroline fumbled to unfasten her seatbelt and shoved the car door open, getting out as fast as she could. Klaus followed her, almost at the same rate, but with much less eagerness.

Caroline slammed her door shut and looked at where they were. The middle of a long dirt road, on a hot day, surrounded by fields in every direction, and no houses or trees to be seen for miles.

Caroline whirled around and stared at Klaus with big eyes of irritation. "Where are we?" she demanded, holding a hand up and pointing at the sky, indicating all around them. Klaus didn't reply to her, just placed a hand on the top of his car and leaned on it. "This was the date you had planned? The desert?"

"This is nothing like a desert. This has fertile land with plants growing everywhere you look," he corrected her.

Caroline rolled her eyes heavily and turned towards the road they had just come from. Dust clouds still hovered over the land from where Klaus had flew by, kicking dirt and rocks up into the air. She started storming down the road, walking away from him and intending to head home.

"Where are you going?" Klaus called after her.

"Home. I really don't want to talk to you."

"You'll never make it there, even with vampire speed. You have no idea where you are."

"I'll figure it out," she mumbled, getting further and further away from him and his car.

"Come back, Caroline. That's not an option," he warned her, knowing she'd find her way back if she tried hard enough.

"Bye, Klaus."

Klaus sneered and rushed down the road towards her. He wrapped his arms around her sides and flashed back to his car, Caroline shoved on his chest and resisting the whole time. "Klaus!" she yelled. He held her wrists as she tried to hit his chest, and he walked her backwards into the car, pinning her between his chest and the hood. "Let me go," she growled, squirming against his chest and trying to free her hands from his grip.

Klaus just pulled her hands behind her back, holding them and using his hands as handcuffs. She pursed her lips at him in frustration and he just raised his eyebrows while inclining his head at her. "Finished?" he checked.

Caroline raised her eyebrows and replied, "No," in a perky voice, like she was getting back at him somehow.

"Not a problem, love," he said with a shrug. "I could stand like this for as long as you like," he smirked, taking a quarter of an inch step closer to her, which was enough to get the reaction he had wanted.

Caroline sneered and pulled her hands from his roughly, pulling them in front of her to cross her arms. Klaus nodded once and moved his weight back and forth between his legs as he settled his hands on the edge of the hood of the car, right at Caroline's sides, holding her in her place. He was standing close to her. Close enough to make him content, but close enough to her to make her feel uneasy.

"I brought you out here to talk," he said quietly, looking her dead in the eyes. Caroline glared back at him, keeping her breath shallow and resisting the urge to growl at him.

"You couldn't have talked to me at my house?"

"Would you have let me? Would you have even let me in the house?"

Caroline looked to the right, not comfortable looking in his eyes any longer. "No, so what makes you think I'm going to listen out here?" she asked, leaning back to lean on the hood of the car and staring at the empty field on the other side of the road.

"Because you can't leave. You have no choice." Klaus pushed up off of the car and brought his hands to his sides, still standing right in front of her, inside her personal bubble.

"I can zone you out," she informed him, raising her eyebrow at him and shifting her crossed arms into a more comfortable position.

"No, you can't," he corrected. "No matter how hard you try, you can't help but listen to me."

"And how would you possibly know that?" she snapped, not liking that he thought he had her figured out.

"Because you know what I have to say is important." Klaus crossed his own arms, which cut into the only space between the two. His arm pressed lightly to the back of hers.

Caroline looked at their touching arms. "And what do you have to say?" she questioned. She felt like moving her arms, but that might be too subtle. That would let him know she felt self-conscious about even touching his clothed arm.

"We made a deal," he informed her. He didn't seem to be noticing their arms at all. His eyes were fixed on hers.

"Yes," she agreed, looking back up to his face. "We did. Thank you for the reminder."

"That's exactly it. You needed reminding," he said matter-of-factly.

He shifted in his place, rubbing his arm on her accidentally. But Caroline decided that was too far. She undid her arms and pushed on the car to hoist herself up. She sat on top of the hood, a little further away from him than she had been a moment ago.

"I'm the one that needs reminding?" she clarified in a defensive way, saying something to make her actions look casual. But really, they were far from just casual.

She was moving away because she knew if she was close to him, even touching his arm, she'd forget to use her head, and she'd end up agreeing to something like she had when she said she'd be his girlfriend. That day had been a nightmare. Just because he had been shirtless and he stood right in front of her, she'd lost it and said yes to anything he said. And ever since she took up that offer, she'd been struggling to continue to say no to him. Sure, she'd just shrugged off everything like it wasn't a big deal, but the previous day, inside the closet at the school, it had taken everything she had to push him away from her, even though she had just been toying with him.

But still… she'd wanted to stay there with him for as long as he had wanted. Too bad Klaus clearly wasn't catching on to anything. Things would just be so much easier if he figured out she felt that way. But the problem was she didn't know how she felt, either. So how could he possibly know?

_No. He was Klaus. He should automatically know all this 'feelings' shit,_ she told herself.

"Yes, you're the one that needs to be reminded," he said, bringing her back to the current unwanted spat they were having. Compared to her mood in the car, she'd calmed down a fair amount.

"The bet was that I'd be nice and sweet to you, and I'd get Tyler back," she refreshed. She looked around to express her next words. "And guess what? I don't see him anywhere!"

"He's not with you because you've been everything but nice and sweet," he retorted.

Caroline was about to disagree, but she realized he was completely right. He continued, "I've been resisting the urge for human blood for the past four months, but what have you done?" he asked. "Nothing. I've been starving myself for no reason."

Caroline bit the inside of her lip. She'd forgotten about that. The deal was, she was a _friend_ to him and he'd return Tyler. She was his _girlfriend_ so he would stop eating people. And he had stopped, for all she knew.

Caroline, knowing Klaus was right, groaned to cover for herself. "Haven't we been through this a million times already?" she moaned, dropping her head back to indicate exhaustion.

"Yes," she heard him answer. "And it clearly hasn't been completely figured out yet." Caroline looked back to him, folding her hands in her lap. "Starting now, we keep the deal in mind at all times. You be respectful and friendly, and I'll continue to progress to the stage where I'll let Tyler go. As for being my girlfriend…" he trailed off.

Caroline turned her face at him and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "What?" she dragged.

"You know what, Caroline. There has been nothing going on to confirm the girlfriend act," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline snapped.

"If you have to accuse me of 'kidnapping' you whenever I wish to take you on a date, then no, you're not pretending to be my darling."

Caroline couldn't think. She was putting up with him; didn't she get credit for that? She started thinking of things that had happened that would prove she was, indeed, acting as his 'darling'. She looked down to her hands. "There!" She reached her hand out and stuck it up next to his face for him to see. "I'm wearing that ring you gave me, don't I get credit for that?" she questioned.

Klaus couldn't help but become a little bit pleased that she was wearing the ring. He hadn't noticed, but she clearly had taken the time to place it on her finger every morning. "Unfortunately, that isn't good enough," he answered, taking her wrist and lowering it. He didn't let go of it, though, he just held it as their hands dangled at their sides.

Caroline didn't seem to notice, however. She was too busy thinking of other things. "I snuggled with you that one time!" she protested. But as she said the words, a blush came to her cheeks. She had hoped he'd forgotten that night, and here she went, bringing it back up.

Klaus smirked. "Yes, you did. And wasn't that the night that you told me you would truly act upon the deal? You said you'd just 'jump in' as my girlfriend, not caring what other people thought," he reminisced. Caroline tensed as she remembered he was completely right. "But if I do recall correctly, you had completely different plans the next day, and from that day on, you seem to have forgotten about everything you said."

"Ok!" she interrupted. "So I forgot to act on what I said. Point being – I have acted like your girlfriend. You cannot deny it," she stated strongly.

Klaus rubbed his thumb on her wrist, right over a vein he could feel pumping with blood. "No, you merely said. You never acted," he continued, refusing to see things her way.

"I kissed you!" she exclaimed, just then thinking of that forest date they had had. She had indeed kissed him. It was more like made out with him. That _had_ to count.

Klaus inclined his head forward. "No, I kissed you," he changed.

Caroline raised her eyebrows and gave a jerk of her head in his direction, waiting for him to put one and one together and finally let her win the girlfriend game. "So! You kissed me, I didn't back away, same thing. Doesn't that count as girlfriend-y?" she snapped anxiously, persistent on winning.

Klaus watched her with amusement. "No," he stated simply. Caroline started to complain again, so he continued to explain. "You ended up throwing a fit in the end. That isn't very 'girlfriend-y'."

Well…it was, but that wasn't his point.

Caroline still hadn't noticed he was holding her wrist. But Klaus did notice she hadn't noticed, so he decided to see how much he could do without her knowledge of it. He started very slowly sliding his hand down, towards her palm.

"But I was kissing you in the moment. I didn't realize it was wrong until I thought of Tyler," she explained.

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Are you saying it felt right? That it _would_ feel right if Tyler was not an issue?" he clarified.

Caroline stared at him with big eyes, registering what she'd said and he'd translated. But what he was saying led her to think he would kill Tyler in order to make him 'not an issue'.

"No!" she protested. "You just flipped my words to change them to something completely off topic," she lied. He had been perfect on rearranging her words, and they both knew it.

"Had it felt right to you, Caroline?" he asked, wanting her to admit it. He continued to move his hand downward. His fingertips were reaching the base of hers.

Caroline was in a panic. She didn't want to answer the question, but she couldn't think of anything to say in replace of the truth, or a new topic to switch to. She tried to make fists with her hands, something she randomly did when under stress. But while her left hand closed, her right one was blocked by something warm and soft. She frowned and looked down.

She felt her stomach jump as she saw Klaus' hand holding hers. She stared for a moment. A moment long enough for Klaus to start to smile at her reaction. But his smile was soon wiped away as Caroline suddenly inhaled deeply and shook her hand free of his.

"No, ok? It didn't feel right," she finally answered, bringing her hands up to run them through her hair.

Klaus felt hurt, even though he didn't believe her. Anyone in that situation, the day of the kiss, couldn't have not felt right. And Klaus knew for a fact that emotions had been coursing through her veins as he'd leaned closer to her, none of which had been negative.

He dropped his hand to his side and tilted his head at her, licking his bottom lip briefly. "Then what _did_ you feel?" he inquired.

Caroline stared at him as thoughts exploded in her head. But as many thoughts that were going through her mind, she couldn't come up with any to tell him. "I don't know," she lied. "That was a long time ago. I forgot."

"No you didn't," Klaus corrected her, knowing she was lying through her teeth. "You know exactly what you were feeling." Then his expression changed, and his voice toned down to almost a whisper. "So just tell me."

She looked straight into his eyes, feeling his bore into hers. Just tell him, she thought. It may hurt, yeah, but at least he'll know the truth. He might even leave you alone about it…

Maybe…

Caroline sighed and looked down from his eyes to his chest. "Alright," she started, taking a breath. "When you kissed me…in that moment…." She shook her head, not believing she was actually going to confess this to him. "I felt free. Overwhelmed. I felt like there was nothing on this earth I should have been worrying about…" She stiffened up and looked back to his eyes. "But, overall, it felt anything _but_ right."

Klaus nodded, thinking he understood. He narrowed his eyes at her, thinking. "If I were to kiss you now," he started softly, cautious not to alarm her. He took a step closer, even though he had been close enough before. Now his legs stopped as his knees rested on the side of the car; his legs open so he wouldn't hit Caroline's. Hers were crossed as they hung off of the car. He rested his hands on either side of her, slightly leaning closer to her. "What would you feel?" he finished in a whisper.

Caroline stared at his lips as he spoke. Her breathing was picking up. She clenched her hands into fists, trying to ignore the slight jumping of her stomach as she sensed him getting closer.

Four months ago, when she first made the deal with him, she had at least been able to stand next to his shirtless body without her stomach acting out of hand. But now, her palms felt slightly moist, and her body tensed, even though she had the power to simply push him away.

But she didn't. She couldn't. No matter what she told herself, she couldn't find it in her to push him away again.

_Come on, Caroline_, she told herself. _This isn't right._

But she allowed him to come closer and closer to her. She never answered his question, they had both forgotten it. The only thing Klaus thought about was the excitement of finally being able to kiss her without Tyler standing in the way. And the only thoughts going through Caroline's mind were those along the lines of wanting Klaus, needing Klaus.

But there was something in her gut, something quiet but strong, that made her feel this wasn't the right place, or the right time, or the right atmosphere to finally be giving into Klaus.

His nose brushed against hers, his eyes falling down to her lips. Caroline's own gaze fixed on his face, taking in his appearance, loving it. All was well, and for once, they both thought they could finally have a moment of bliss…

That was until his bottom lip barely grazed hers. That one small touch sent shocks of alarm down Caroline, and regret and worry and everything that had always stopped them came flooding back into her mind. She turned her head to the left, leaving the extra heat he had been breathing onto her face.

Klaus closed his eyes in neglect and clenched his jaw shut. He wasn't angry, no, but he felt he would never be close to her. His jaw ticked and he leaned his forehead against her temple. He decided not to ask why. It would be the same answer it always was.

"Tyler," she said with a strong voice, even though Klaus hadn't asked.

But this time, as she said Tyler's name, it wasn't the reason she wouldn't kiss Klaus, it was the excuse.

Caroline bit her lip and stared at the top of the car, confused beyond the measure of words…or, words she knew. Klaus would probably have a dictionary in his head he could read from to describe the precise emotions going on inside of her.

But the emotions going on inside of her were ones she'd thought she'd never have to face. Ones no one in Mystic Falls would approve of. She was content with Klaus being near here. She was excited about it. Tyler didn't matter right now. It was just her and Klaus.

Just her and Klaus… He'd wanted to take her away and show her the world. She wanted to see the world, but not with Klaus. Not yet. She couldn't even go on a date with him without being upset about it in some way. But why was she upset?

Why?

The number one question. Why didn't she do anything or let herself feel anything for Klaus?

"Tyler," she murmured out loud again, answering the question from her head.

Klaus gently kissed her temple and let his head fall down to her shoulder for a quick moment. "Alright," he said. He lifted his head up and took a step back from her, looking around as he gathered himself. "I'll take you home now."

Caroline didn't argue. She hopped down from the hood into the little space she had between Klaus and the car. She had to put her hands up against Klaus' chest as she landed unstably onto the gravel road. Klaus steadied her by taking the backs of her bent elbows and waiting until she started walking away before he let go of her.

Caroline frowned as she made her way to the passenger's door. The same question going on in her head. Why?

The emotions going on inside of her were ones she'd thought she'd never have to face. Ones no one in Mystic Falls would approve of. But did she need anyone to approve? It wasn't as if she needed Damon's go-ahead to love someone.

-_What_? she stopped herself in mid thought.

_No. No I just thought love to prove a point. I don't love Klaus. Out of the question._

She stopped by her door, her hand on the handle. Looking over the car, she saw Klaus had done the same, stopped at his door and looked over to her.

His hair was being tussled by the slight breeze, and his neck flexed with his breathing. His eyes narrow against the sunlight, but that adoring look he always gave her still showed intensely.

That's what she wanted – someone to love her like Klaus did. She needed that if she was going to make it long as a vampire. And if she could only find it with Klaus, that was absolutely fine. She had already just concluded she had feelings for him. How strong these feelings were, she wasn't quite sure; but no arguing, they were there.

The emotions going on inside of her were ones she'd thought she'd never have to face. Ones no one in Mystic Falls would approve of.

No, screw this. She didn't need anyone's approval. If she wanted to fall for Klaus, she damn well would!

Caroline let go of the door handle and took a deep breath. "Creating our own fairytale," she said, reminding him of the last time they spoke. She nodded her head to the side, preparing herself. "Here we go."

She rushed over to his side of the car, standing right next to his side. Before Klaus even had time to turn himself towards her and start questioning, Caroline had wrapped her hands around his neck, turning his face for him. She watched his lips as they parted slightly to begin the talking. But she wasn't about to answer more 'why' questions. She pulled him down towards her as she lifted herself up onto the balls of her feet. Then, at the last second, she made eye contact with him, right before crashing her lips onto his, in the right place, the right time, and the right atmosphere to finally give into him.

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><p>Yes, I know, I'm evil. Next chapter will pick up right here.<p>

I'm going to try to get a new chapter up every tuesday. Hopefully!

Thank you guys for all the help and support!


	14. The Voice Mail

This would probably be a lot better if you went back and reread chapter 13, but your choice! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Made my day! I realize that this chapter won't make sense, and a lot of it will be OOC, but the next chapter will make up for everything! So just, hold back on the hate, please? Haha. Enjoy!

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><p>Klaus responded to the kiss by first just standing there, stunned; but then seconds later, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a tight embrace while her hands wrapped around his neck. She kissed him as hard as she could, getting as close as possible. She had pushed him into the car, leaning up against his now stabilized being. She moved her lips with his, feeling the pure passion of the moment, and not caring about anything else. Her mind was at ease.<p>

But Klaus seemed to have just a couple things on his mind. He loosened his grasp around her and put his hands on her waist instead. He pulled back ever so slightly and leaned his head on hers. "What about Tyler?" he reminded.

Caroline scoffed. "Forget Tyler," she dismissed, pulling his head back to hers, needing nothing more than to be kissed by him.

As her lips came in contact with his once more, he moaned and leaned his back up off the car, getting closer to her and letting his hands roam her back. Caroline's hands mainly stayed on his neck, shoulders, and hair; but her mouth traveled his entire face, loving every detail. While she kissed his face, he had room to speak.

"And me being the Big Bad Klaus? Where did your thoughts on that go?" he questioned.

"It's all still there," she replied into his ear. "There's just a 'My' on the front of it now."

Klaus chuckled and gently bit the shell of her ear. Caroline, smiling, took his hair and pulled his face back into her view. She just stared at him for a second, relishing in everything about him. If her thoughts weren't completely correct right now, she didn't care. She'd deal with details later. But for now, Klaus was hers.

Hers. Caroline smiled at that thought. She rubbed her nose on his for a split second, then claimed his mouth once more.

Klaus kissed her back eagerly, not seeming to be able to make up his mind as to which angle he preferred to kiss her at. He turned their heads often, moving his lips in perfect rhythm with hers.

He leaned up off of the car completely and moved Caroline back a few steps. He reached for the handle behind him, but tried to keep her at a distance the whole time. Getting the door open while she was standing in the way would not end up in a good situation. Klaus' hand on her stomach, preventing her from coming closer, seemed to be working. Her hands were still on his face as she refused to leave his kiss.

Once the door was open, Klaus picked Caroline up by the waist and gently set her down in the seat. Caroline frowned at him and finally pulled her face from his. "What are you doing?" she questioned, looking around at the wheel she had been placed behind.

"Making this scene even better," he said, putting his hand on the lever under the seat and pulling it. The back of the seat dropped back, but Caroline was quick enough to hold herself up as she suddenly was no longer supported.

"Klaus!" she yelled when the seat dropped back.

Klaus smiled at her and started climbing inside of the car, himself, and shutting the door behind him.

Considering how small the front seat of the car was, Klaus accidentally honked the horn as he tried to cram himself in.

Caroline laughed out loud at him and fell back onto the back of the seat, where she was supposed to have laid down when he'd first retracted it.

As Caroline continued to giggle at Klaus for a silly action, he leaned down and laid himself down on top of her, propping himself up on his elbows and staring down at her smiling face.

"Ok, now why did you move us?" she questioned, calming herself.

"This is more romantic," he answered.

Caroline chuckled again. "Being crammed in a car is more romantic than standing in the middle of a breeze and under the sun?" she checked.

Klaus thought about it for a second. "But you see, in here, I'm leaning over you. And that is always the most romantic way to be with someone."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Are you saying that every time I see you now, I should immediately drop to the ground so that you can be over me?"

Klaus smirked and pursed his lips in mock annoyance at her sassy attitude. "No. I'm saying you should be quiet and accept that I have more knowledge in the 'Romance' apartment than you do!" he insisted, leaning down and placing a single, sweet kiss on her smiling lips.

"Ok," she started. "When was this," she motioned to him leaning over her, "considered romantic?"

Klaus frowned at her like she was crazy. "This has always been considered romantic, darling," he informed her. In every fairytale, this is how the prince kisses the 'damsel in distress.'"

Caroline kissed the tip of his nose. "I thought we were making our own fairytale," she reminded him.

"There's got to be some clichés in the mix or it just won't be a fairytale."

Caroline frowned. "I hate clichés," she commented.

Klaus chuckled. "You do an awful lot of cliché things for someone that hates them."

Caroline didn't reply, she wouldn't let him win that war.

They locked eyes in an entrancing stare. Caroline was starting to see what people meant by 'looking into someone's soul' through their eyes. Looking into his intense blue eyes, seeing the reflection of the sunlight in them, the loving look twinkling on the rim, she felt like she was staring at _him_, the real Klaus. She reached forward and placed her hand on the side of his face, making it all the while by doing every cliché thing in the book.

Klaus reached for her other hand and held it to his chest, intertwining their fingers; and with his other hand, he gently stroked hair out of her face.

Yup, Caroline thought, every cliché thing in the book.

Klaus smirked and slightly shook his head. "This is completely cliché," he said her thoughts aloud.

Caroline rolled her eyes with a tiny smile on her face. "Ok, so I do cliché things," she agreed. "But I don't want clichés in my fairytale!"

Klaus sobered a bit at the thought of that. 'My fairytale.' Caroline's fairytale involved him. He smiled down at her gently. "Then what would you like in your tale, darling?"

Caroline held his gaze and couldn't help the faint blush that crept to her cheeks as he asked for her preference in their story. "I want us to be passionate. I want there to be a true, thick, sickeningly sweet love that practically glows off of us when we're together."

Oh, Caroline… he thought. If only I could give that to you…

He didn't reply to her. He couldn't tell her that could never happen, not after he just got her. He wasn't going to just push her away like that.

So instead, he leaned down and grazed his lips across hers, sending a shock down her arms. Her eyes fell closed and she inhaled sharply at the feeling of Klaus finally being this close to her. He closed his eyes as well, and sighed in relief. No one could act that well. She wasn't lying or playing him at all. This was real. It was all finally real. Leaning down, Klaus promised himself he wouldn't let her go, not now that he had her. He swore he would make sure he did everything to keep her safe, keep her happy, keep her loved. He would never turn his back on her, even if she hated him. He would be there for her, forever, until the day he died.

To seal off his vow, he tenderly kissed her. He kissed her slowly, knowing this was the last woman he would truly fall for ever again. Because after Caroline, there would be no other.

Tyler coughed and reached to roll up his window as the dust started pouring into the car. The tires of his car were flinging rocks and sand up into the air as he flew down the empty road. He had a smirk on his face. He was coming home, home to Caroline.

He reached for his phone and quickly dialed her number, needing to tell her. He couldn't keep his return a secret any longer.

The phone rang in his ear and he gripped the steering wheel with one hand as he kept the car on the beaten road.

A ring came from Klaus' back pocket, and Caroline frowned against him. "That my phone?" she asked.

Klaus pulled it out of his pocket with difficulty of holding himself up with one arm. He handed her the phone, but he took a quick glance, and panicked when he saw the number that was calling. "Who is it?" he asked as she looked at the screen.

Caroline shook her head at the string of numbers stretched across her phone. "I don't know. Someone I don't have in my contacts," she answered. She shrugged and reached behind her to drop the phone to the floor of the car, under the seat. Klaus felt a wave of relief sweep across him. She reached for Klaus' neck and pulled him back down to her in another heated kiss.

Tyler chuckled in irritation as he was taken to her answering machine. "Hey, Care, I know you're not answering because you don't have my number saved yet, so I'm not gonna stress about it. Anyway, I'm almost home, give me ten minutes, and I'll be at your doorstep," he smiled into the phone. He turned the steering wheel slightly to dodge a black Mustang that was just setting on the side of the road. "I miss you like crazy. Love you," he said, then clicked the end button and tossed his phone into the passenger's seat as he straightened his car back into the middle of the road.

.

Caroline lightly dragged her finger around the back of Klaus' hand, making random designs. They were laying back-to-chest on the seat, as close as possible. She was facing the door of the car, but was content with Klaus' arm draped around her shoulders and his other arm below her for her to use as a pillow.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly, having not talked for a while. They had been laying like that for nearly twenty minutes straight, in a heavy silence.

Klaus pulled his arm away from her slowly and reached into his back pocket for his phone. "Almost two," he answered. Klaus frowned as he actually took a second to look at his screen. "Oh…" he said aloud. He had a voicemail, but he didn't remember ever hearing his phone alarm.

"What?" Caroline asked, turning over on the narrow seat to look up at him.

"Nothing. I've just got a voicemail. Mind if I listen to it?" he asked, seeing as that was the polite thing to do: ask before switching to something that only involved one of them.

Caroline gave him a 'yeah, duh' face. "Wait, don't I have one too?" she asked, trying to look behind her towards the floor of the car.

Klaus quickly snatched her phone and held it in front of his face, not letting her take it from him. "Yes, it appears you do. Mind if I listen to it for you?"

Caroline closed her eyes and shook her head at the random offer. "What?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"That's Kol's number. I just thought you wouldn't want to listen to his voice," he said. "I'll let you hear mine," he added onto the offer.

Caroline stared at him like he was crazy. "I…I-I guess? That's kinda weird…"

Klaus ignored her last comment and handed her his phone. "Six, eight, six, four," he listed his phone's code to her.

"Yeah," she dragged, staring at the phone like she was unsure about everything he was doing. She spaced out for a second, then suddenly remembered he wanted her code. "Oh. Three, five, four, four," she answered.

Klaus started leaning up off of her. "Hungry, love?"

Caroline thought for a second. "Yeah. Didn't realize it until you said something," she admitted. "Wait, you brought food?"

"I have extra blood stored in the back," he said, opening the door and moving Caroline's legs aside so he could get out.

He gracefully exited, his necklace gently swaying as he was bent down to avoid hitting his head on the rim of the hood. The second he was out, he closed the door and punched in the numbers onto Caroline's phone.

He took a few steps away from the car, listening closely. "Hey, Care," Tyler's voice came out of the phone. Klaus mumbled a few curses before continuing to listen. "…you don't have my number saved yet, so I'm not gonna stress about it. Anyway, I'm almost home, give me ten minutes, and I'll be at your doorstep."

Klaus didn't need to hear anymore. He clicked end on the phone and quickly deleted the message so Caroline wouldn't be able to listen to it later.

What did he do? What could he do? Caroline would find Tyler soon enough if they went home. Ten minutes. That meant Tyler had already been to her house, found she wasn't there, and is looking for her this very second. He had to do something. Get Caroline away from Tyler…

Klaus put Caroline's phone in his pocket subconsciously as he briskly turned around and marched back to the door of the car. He pulled it open and leaned down to look at her.

"Run away with me."

Caroline looked up from his phone with a stunned look on her face. "What?" she exclaimed, louder than necessary.

"Right now. Come with me. Skip town. Let's you and me run off together," he said in one breath.

"Klaus, I just got used to kissing you, I'm not just going to stop what I'm doing and leave everything right off the bat like that," she snapped.

"Come on, Caroline! We're making our own fairytale, remember?"

"And that is the most cliché thing there is!" she defended.

"Forget about cliché, darling." He crawled into the car far enough to sit on the edge of the seat and place a hand on her knee. "We'll be gone a week at the latest. We could go anywhere you wanted. This is the perfect opportunity!" he said in an excited hushed voice.

"The perfect opportunity for what?"

"For us to get to know one another. For us to escape the chaos of this town," he explained.

"Why can't we do that in like a month?" she questioned, not liking the sudden spontaneous plans.

"Because in a month from now you will have changed your mind about everything."

Caroline calmed herself at that statement. "You don't know that," she said in a defensive, quiet tone.

"No, I _do_ know that," he corrected, staring straight into her eyes. "The minute after I start this car and begin heading back to town, you'll shut me out. You'll pretend that this never happened. That's what you do every time. That's why we're not together." He sighed and looked down. "That's why we won't ever be together."

Caroline frowned at him. But thinking back on everything, that was exactly what she did. "No," she said to him firmly. "No, that isn't going to happen this time. This time I'm going to be happy, and be happy with you. This is happening, Klaus. You and me." Despise her promise to be happy with this, Klaus didn't look at her. He looked up and out the window ahead of him. Caroline bit her lip, thinking about what else she could do. "Fine," she agreed without telling him what she was agreeing to.

Klaus raised an eyebrow at her. "Fine what?"

"We're leaving," she said in a cheerful but driven way. She turned around and scootched herself backwards into the passenger's seat. She smiled at him. "We're running away together. Being all cliché-y."

Klaus stared at her for a while, like she was going to crack and demand he take her home. But she didn't. She just gave him a waiting expression and pulled her feet up on the seat under her.

"Well?" she asked after about two minutes of just staring at one another. "Are we going or not?" she checked.

Klaus couldn't help the tiny curve that appeared at the corner of his mouth. "You really want to do this?"

"If you promise to take me shopping, then yes. I really, truly do," she smiled at him.

Klaus leaned across the divider of the two seats. Without touching her with his hands, he kissed her once, making the kiss long, and making it count.

Caroline even surprised him by humming right before she pulled away. He smiled with his eyes still closed before pulling himself back over into the driver's seat and fixing the backrest. He pulled his door closed and started the car, smiling the whole time.

"Oh!" Caroline started, but decided not to finish the thought. She settled herself down in her seat. "Never mind," she dismissed.

Klaus frowned at her, still smiling. "What?" he asked, pulling onto the middle of the road and driving away from their lives for the time being.

"Nothing. The auction was today, but I realized now that it's set up they don't really need me."

Klaus finally stopped smiling. "Do we need to go back so you can be a part of it?" he checked, feeling a bit discouraged.

Caroline slowly started to smile. "No, we don't. I said I wasn't going to turn on you like I always do. And I plan on sticking to what I said this time. We're leaving together, and we're not worrying about anything else!"

Klaus had plenty to worry about. His family killing the Gilbert girl. Lockwood finding out that he had his girlfriend. Caroline deciding halfway through the trip that she hated him again. But she said they weren't going to worry. And that's what they both intended to do. Not worry about anything. Especially being alone together for the first time ever…


	15. The Secret of Victoria

BELIEVE ME! I HATE MYSELF AS MUCH AS YOU HATE ME! I've been DYING to get this chapter up, but I lost my job and the people cut my internet because I wasn't paying the bill. I'm trying, guys, please don't hate me, at least not too much...

And I know it's asking a lot...but review? Even if it's to scream at me for taking too long?

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><p>"Bonnie," Caroline smiled into the phone, looking out her window. "It happened," she announced.<p>

"What happened?" Bonnie replied.

"Klaus and I, we're together." She could hardly contain the chuckle that erupted from her lips at that thought. She was completely ecstatic about it all.

"Oh," Bonnie said in surprise. "Just like that? Like, over night?" she asked, hardly believing it.

Caroline frowned in thought. "More like just in the past four hours," she corrected.

Klaus, driving, smiled. Bonnie, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. "Um…wh-what are you going to tell everyone?" she questioned.

Caroline shrugged, even though her friend couldn't see it. "I don't care. That's why I called you. I'm leaving for the week, and I want you to just tell everyone that I'm fine and not to worry."

"What about Tyler?" Bonnie pointedly reminded, as if Caroline had forgotten.

"I don't know. I'll deal with him when I get back." She sighed. "Look, I know it's like I'm abandoning Tyler right now…but I need to be with Klaus." At that, she laughed. "This is crazy, I know. Just, trust I know what I'm doing, okay?"

She could practically hear Bonnie shake her head. "No, I don't trust you know what you're doing. But I do trust that you will deal with everything when you get back, and that you'll be thinking the whole time you're gone. Be safe," she instructed solemnly.

Caroline nodded. "I will be." She waited a moment, thinking about what to say next before she hung up. "Bonnie?" she asked.

"Yes, Caroline?" Bonnie answered.

"I want to be with Klaus, that's fact," she said sternly.

"I believe you," Bonnie said back. "I just don't agree with you."

"Well…." Caroline didn't finish her sentence. What she was going to say was "Maybe this will all blow over," but then she remembered her promise to Klaus. She was sticking to this. So there was no way she could reassure Bonnie while not discouraging (and possible pissing off) Klaus. "I have to go, I'll call you later," she said before clicking the end button and holding her phone in her lap.

Klaus turned to look at her for a second as he slowed down in front of a stop sign. "Something wrong, darling?"

Caroline shook her head. _Yes,_ she thought. _I just moved way too freaking fast!_ "No, nothing," she smiled at him, going against everything in her head. _Ok, no, I can't just act like this is going to be okay. I have to believe it myself._ She sat up straighter in her seat and looked out her window so she could concentrate. _This trip will bring Klaus and I closer together; I like him, and that's why I'm doing it. Tyler will be given back to me when I return anyway, so this is all for the greater cause. If I go back to Tyler or stay with Klaus at the end of this all…I'll decide when the time comes._ Caroline smiled to herself. "Everything is fine," she reassured.

•

Bonnie tossed her phone onto the couch next to her. She rubbed her forehead. "This couldn't get any worse…" she mumbled to herself, thinking about what her best friend was getting herself into.

There was a knock at the door, and Bonnie jumped at the unexpected noise. She frowned and tried to see who was at the door by looking through the window, but they were too close to the door for her to see through the side of the house. So, her only choice was to answer the door, even though it could be someone she really didn't want to talk to.

Bonnie sighed as she reached for the handle of the door and when the sunlight started pouring into the opened door, she had to frown against the light.

It took her exactly three second to see who was standing in front of her, five seconds to register who it was, and ten seconds to piece together what kind of shit she was standing in the middle of.

"Tyler," she addressed.

Tyler smiled back at his friend. "I'm back," he announced, even though it was obvious.

"Back?" Bonnie asked.

When you escape from the evilest villain in the world, you don't come home and announce "you're back" like you'd just been on vacation.

Unless he _had_ been on vacation. In which case would lead to even further shit because that would mean…

"I had to leave town unexpectedly for a while to deal with some family stuff."

…Klaus never had him in the first place.

•

Caroline stared out her window and let her mind wonder. She suddenly turned to Klaus. "Hey, what was my voicemail about?" she asked.

Klaus thought for only a split second. "Kol. He wanted to know if I was with you," he lied.

"Ah," Caroline said, looking back out the window, slightly disappointed that it hadn't been important. "Oh, and yours was Rebekah. She said something about today being the twentieth." Klaus felt something like dread take hold of him at this reminder. "What does that mean?" Caroline asked, not seeing his reaction.

Klaus shook his head. "Nothing. We had a meeting today she was reminding me of. Nothing to stress about," he said. He was telling the truth…kinda. There had been a meeting scheduled for that day, but it was definitively something to stress over. The twentieth – the day one of the doppelgangers needed to die. Klaus' absence wouldn't keep his family from fulfilling the plans. But he couldn't tell Caroline that. She would worry about Elena and fuss and demand to be taken home. It didn't matter, though. They were killing Katherine Petrova instead of the human girl. So he let it go, reminding himself that this was a carefree trip.

Everything was blissful for about twenty more minutes. Caroline and Klaus sat in silence, thinking about what they were jumping into, and that was what kept them at bay, until Klaus made the mistake of asking the question. The question you don't ask until you're well into the relationship. The question that could turn the entire thing around, and make her hate him once again.

"Care for some music, darling?" There it was: the mistake. Klaus reached forward to mess with the dial on the radio. Noise started skipping in through the speakers and Caroline frowned at the static.

"What is this?" she asked, crossing her legs.

Klaus listened for a few moments. "Sounds like Jimi Hendrix…" he guessed.

"Who?" Caroline asked. She'd knew the name, but just to mess with him, she'd play it dumb.

Klaus gave her a quick look before returning his eyes to the road. "Hendrix," he repeated. "He's a musician."

Caroline chuckled. "I figured that out, thanks," she retorted. "We're not listening to that," she informed him as she leaned forward and messed with the dial and buttons until she heard the sound of _her_ music. "Yes! Love this song," she celebrated as the song became clear.

Klaus frowned in disgust at the sound. Caroline's head was bobbing with the music. "That's what you get when you let your heart win," she sang along. "Whoaaa…"

"What is this?" Klaus asked, sitting back in his seat.

"Paramore," Caroline replied like it was obvious.

"Who?" Klaus asked, repeating everything she had said.

"Paramore," Caroline said again. "They're a band," she mocked.

Klaus gave her a sideways look before turning onto the highway and driving west, away from Mystic Falls. "Well it sounds awful; turn it back to my channel," he instructed.

Caroline scoffed. "I don't think so." She crossed her arms as well and turned to look out of her window.

She stared at the trees passing by the road and tapped her fingers to the beat of the music. But the beat changed suddenly as a different song was playing. She turned and saw that Klaus had changed the station and they were now listening to some guy sing about being superstitious.

Klaus watched Caroline out of the corner of his eye, not caring about the cars around them. Caroline watched him in return. She planned on changing the music again, but knew he would stop her the second she moved her hand. So she waited, until the perfect moment.

Her hand lashed out towards the dial, turning it quickly. But Klaus' hand hit her hand and pushed it away, spinning the dial in the opposite direction, going to a station neither of them had intended to play. Caroline shook his hand away and quickly went back for the controls.

"Caroline!" Klaus shouted. Caroline would have stopped had she not heard the tiny chuckle hidden in the name. She smiled as they fought over the radio, pressing random buttons and messing with everything he had taken time to fix to his liking.

Caroline heard a familiar beat of a song she was obsessed with and quickly grabbed Klaus' wrist. "Stop!" she yelped, becoming still. Klaus kept cruising behind a black Toyota but did indeed stop fighting her. Caroline ever so slowly reached up and barely touched the knob, moving it about a millimeter to the right and making the static noise clear into music.

Klaus relaxed his arm a little, letting his hand go limp in Caroline's grip. "Alright, are we agreed?" he asked, seeing as he could live with the music that was playing.

Caroline released his wrist and brought her hands to her lap. "Yes, neither of us touch it?"

"No touching." He placed both hands on the steering wheel and listened to the music pouring in through the speakers.

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, by Fall Out Boy.

"You like Fall Out Boy?" Caroline asked, hardly believing it.

Klaus tilted his head to the side. "To some extent," he agreed.

Caroline shook her head. "They're pretty similar to Paramore. And you don't like them why?"

"Paramore had a woman singing," Klaus answered.

Caroline hit his shoulder. "You sexist bastard!" she accused.

Klaus frowned. "Men know how to project their voice better than women do. That, darling, is a fact," he informed her matter-of-factly.

Caroline folded her arms in a smug way. "You've clearly never heard Christina Aguilera," she muttered.

Klaus shook his head, smiling. "Oh, I've heard her. Woman never shuts up," he said with a chuckle.

Caroline frowned. "You've met Aguilera?" she demanded.

"Course I did. I'm the one that convinced her to take up singing," Klaus gloated.

Caroline watched him in dismay for a few moments, then shook her head. "You're full of it," she chuckled.

"Not lying, darling. She called me uncle Nik," he dragged on. Caroline rolled her eyes and got ready for the story of how 'Uncle Nik' convinced Aguilera to sing. He was getting into being friends with her father, but was suddenly stopped as they passed an ambulance on the side of the road.

Caroline turned to watch the scene as Klaus maneuvered the car around the tape that kept other vehicles out of the way of the paramedics and cops. The started going much slower as all the traffic was suddenly merged into one lane, and Caroline and Klaus both had a chance to look at the crash.

A truck and semi were both lying on their sides in the ditch. Officials were gathered around both of them, getting the passengers out. "That's a terrible crash," Klaus commented.

"How do you know they didn't just bump and fall over into the ditch?" Caroline questioned, turning in her seat as they slowly passed.

"Because the skid marks start clear up there," Klaus pointed out, nodding further up the road. Caroline turned to look at what he was talking about and her eyebrows rose in surprise. Sure enough, about six-hundred feet ahead of them, black marks covered the road from where both tires and paint had been pressed down into the concrete.

"They slid that entire length?" she asked, trying to replay what could have happened in her mind.

"I'm guessing they clashed, bounced, slid, and ended up in the ditch back there," Klaus played out.

Caroline chuckled. "Alright, CSI. Cause of death?" she asked, making fun of him.

But he wasn't catching it. "I'm sorry?" he said, waiting for clarification.

Caroline shook her head and looked out the window. "Never mind, grandpa."

•

Klaus put the car keys in his pocket and opened his door. "Call me when you're finished and I'll meet you to pay," he finished up the directions.

Caroline frowned at him. "Um…we're at a mall, and I'm a girl," she informed him.

Klaus pulled his door shut, just in case they were going to have to argue for a little. "Yes, and?"

"I'm going to shop in more than just one store, and I can't leave a store without paying."

"What are you saying?" Klaus asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "I'm saying we're shopping together," she said smugly.

Klaus stared at her, waiting for her to crack a smile and tell him she was merely joking…

•

Klaus picked up the sixth shopping bag and followed Caroline out of one of the many stores they'd been to and back into the crowded mall.

"How much longer, darling?" he asked, not necessarily tired, but convinced she had more than enough clothing.

"I just one to go to this one other store," she said, leading the way.

"That's what you said about the past three shops," he reminded.

Caroline was going to reply, but was stopped when she accidentally ran into someone that was running by them. She let out a surprised squeak and began falling backwards, right into Klaus' arms. The person was at least polite enough to turn in their tracks and apologize more than a few times as they went on their way. Klaus helped Caroline stabilize herself as he watched the man continue to run.

Caroline shook off the surprise and collected her thoughts. She looked at Klaus' face and instantly knew what was going on in his mind. "Oh, no!" she said hurriedly. "You're not chasing them down. Come one," she instructed.

She began walking away again, taking Klaus' arm and dragging him in pursuit. "That man just ran into you," he stated obviously.

"Yes, and he apologized," she informed him. "Now, I don't know how things were way back when, but now if someone apologizes you forgive and forget."

Klaus narrowed his eyes at the back of her head. "I'm not too good at the forgiving part, darling," he said.

"Not too good at the forgetting either," Caroline muttered back. "Ok!" she said, fairly louder. "Here we are: the most important store on earth," she addressed, turning around to Klaus with a smile.

Klaus looked up at the sign. "Victoria's Secret?" he checked. "Really?"

Caroline frowned. "Do you even know what that is?"

Klaus looked down to her with a look that said she was a fool for thinking he didn't. "I was there when it was brand new. And even if I hadn't known," he pointed to the store in front of them where bras and panties were clearly visible, "it's not exactly hard to figure out."

Caroline ignored him and held her hand out. "Credit card," she demanded.

Klaus raised his eyebrows at her. "Excuse me?"

"I need the credit card," she clarified.

"You could at least ask nicely," he said.

"Please may I have your credit card?" she asked, smiling at him.

"No," Klaus answered, earning a scoff from Caroline. "It is my card, and I am well aware that if I hand it to you, you will feel you have the right-away to buy out the entire store," he explained, making the last two words stand out.

Caroline shook her head and frowned. "Ok, no. And only a third of that store would even fit me."

Klaus couldn't help the smirk that split his face. Caroline hit his shoulder. "Grow up," she instructed.

"I wasn't smirking at that, darling," he corrected her.

"Then what?"

"I was smirking at the fact that a couple of young girls in the store are staring at us. More particularly: me," he bragged.

"You're full of yourself," she snapped. "A couple of girls gawk at you and now you're gonna rub it in my face."

Klaus shook his head gently. "I'm not rubbing it in your face. Normally I would relish in the attention, darling–"

"Too bad you're taken," Caroline said smugly, thinking she was winning because he could no longer flirt because _she_ was his woman now.

Klaus smiled and stepped closer to her. "Exactly my point."

Caroline smiled back at him. This was something she never thought would be happening. Klaus was shopping with her, and rubbing their relationship in the face of complete innocent strangers. Caroline's eyes lit up. Complete strangers, meaning they had no idea who Klaus was. She could make him look like a total tool…

"Alright, you stay put, and I'll call you in when I need to pay," she said bubbly and kissed his cheek before skipping off into the store, leaving Klaus behind looking confused as the bags in his hands hung a his sides.

The girls that had been staring at the two of them watched Klaus, paying no attention at all to Caroline as she chuckled, walking past them.

Klaus gathered his thoughts and then began walking in after Caroline, looking like her little puppy. He came up behind Caroline and whispered in her hear, "You are so not getting away with that."

Caroline smiled and turned to look at him. "Sounds dirty when you put it like that," she frowned.

"Our entire relationship is dirty, sweetheart," he corrected. He was, of course, talking about the fact that they were only together because Caroline believes Klaus had her boyfriend and the whole thing had started upon a bargain, which in itself is very unhealthy for a loving bond; only to be in the mall now because they had run off together away from everything they were supposed to be focused on, and Klaus only taking her away to hide her from her true boyfriend that had suddenly stepped back into their lives.

"Could you say that a little louder?" she requested, knowing the two 'stalkers' were only about five feet away from them.

Klaus shook his head. "Because you made me look like your slave, no," he denied, making Caroline pout. "Listen, I'm going to take these to the car, I'll be back in less than a minute. Keep an eye out, alright?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, I'll be in this store," she promised, looking around to indicate she was talking about the store they were _in_. Klaus mumbled an understanding and kissed the top of her head before walking out of the store. Caroline smiled to herself at his little act and turned to start scanning the shelves.

Klaus was only gone for about forty five seconds, just as he had said. He stood at the opening of the store, and looked around at all the delicates that were on display. He could hear Caroline's almost inaudible humming, and knew she was safe. So, he decided to shop around himself. He started slowly striding through the isles, chuckling at how much undergarments had changed over the decades. He suddenly felt a tap on his back, and he turned to see one of the girls that had been staring at him was smiling up at him.

"Hello," he greeted.

He could tell that his accent threw the girl off, for she looked confused for a split second, and then beamed even brighter. "Hi," she said back in a small voice. She pulled some hair of her straight, brunette hair back behind her ear and held her other hand out. "Emily," she introduced.

Klaus admired her straight forwardness, one of the traits he loved about Caroline. He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles in his original greeting. "Klaus," he said before lowering her hand back to her side. He could see the small blush that smudged onto her cheeks.

The girl motioned to the bras behind him. "So are you an A or B?" she joked nervously.

Klaus chuckled, just to make her feel less awkward. "No, I'm just waiting for my companion," he said, folding his hands behind his back.

"The blonde?" she checked. Klaus nodded in confirmation. "Please tell me she's your sister or something," she said, looking pretty desperate.

Klaus smiled, and was going to reply, but didn't have the chance as he was stopped by a hand sliding across his chest and wrapping around his waist. He looked to his right to see Caroline had suddenly appeared at his side. She smiled at him and quickly leaned up to kiss him passionately. Klaus didn't object. He rubbed his hand along the arm that was now sliding up to his shoulders. Caroline made sure to open her mouth more than enough times so the girl standing beside them saw enough to get the point. Caroline hummed as she slowly pulled away from Klaus with a dreamy look on her face.

She smiled at him as he turned to look at the girl with a bit of a 'there you have it' look; he didn't look embarrassed whatsoever. "No, not my sister," he finally answered.

Caroline turned to the girl like she hadn't even seen her standing there. "Oh, hello," she said perkily.

The brunette looked at Caroline with an offended look, she had every right to. "Hi," the girl said back in a bitter tone. "I was just talking to Klaus. He's quite the flirter," she said, trying to tick Caroline off about nothing.

Caroline smirked and looked back to Klaus. "Yup, that's my Klaus for you. Flirting with everything that comes in his path," she laughed as if it were real. She suddenly turned back to Emily and leaned forward like she had a secret. "I saw him hitting on a squirrel once," she chuckled.

Emily looked confused, offended, and creeped out. "Well if he flirts with everything, why are you with him?" she snapped.

Caroline shrugged. "We love each other," she said plainly. Then she held up her left hand and beamed. "And we're engaged," she giggled.

Klaus frowned and took her hand in his, turning it to look at the ruby stone she had on her finger. The ring he had given her. She had placed it on her wedding finger before she even came over to them. Klaus looked at her with a look that said he didn't approve. But Caroline was still smiling at Emily, who was blushing out of control and looking for words.

"Um…congratulations," she hissed. "Have fun trying to keep him from sleeping around town," she snapped and stormed away.

Caroline smiled smugly after the girl while Klaus dropped her hand and looked at her with an annoyed look.

Caroline turned back to him and started laughing. She leaned against his shoulder and just giggled uncontrollably until she looked up at Klaus' face. Her laughter slowly came to a stop, but she still smiled. "What?" she asked, referring to his stern look.

"What was that all about?" he questioned.

"She was hitting on you," she chuckled.

"So you thought you'd come in here and make a fool of yourself?"

Caroline held her hands out like she was innocent. "It's called having fun, Klaus," she said, getting confused that he was scolding her for this.

Klaus held a hand out, pointing to where the girl had walked away to. "That was called being rude."

"Oh because you'd know the first thing about being polite," she mocked. She put her hands together and worked the ring off of her ring finger, placing it back onto the right hand where it belonged.

"I happen to have years of experience behind me, Caroline," he corrected.

Caroline scoffed. "Exactly – behind you. You're pretty damn rude now."

Klaus opened his mouth and leaned closer to her, preparing to fire up the argument. But at the last second, he stopped the sound from coming out of his mouth and swallowed his words. He clenched his jaw shut and leaned back, taking a deep breath. As he did this, Caroline also realized what they just narrowly missed and began calming herself down along with him.

"Are you done?" Klaus asked, seeing the bag she had hooked on her arm.

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, I just need you to pay and we can leave."

Klaus nodded and turned, leading the way back to the girl that was patiently waiting behind the counter. As he pulled his wallet out, he took inventory on what Caroline had picked out. Three, black laced bras with matching panties to along with. He smirked at Caroline, who was averting her eyes from him, as he handed the credit card to the cashier.

No words were spoken as Klaus paid the precise amount of money and the woman bagged Caroline's new clothing and placed the bag on the counter with a smile before walking away. Klaus picked up the bag by its handles and looked at Caroline as he turned to lead the way out of Victoria's Secret. Caroline followed him out, staring at his back and biting her lip, for no particular reason. When they emerged into the main building Klaus slowed down, waiting for Caroline to come up by his side. They walked side by side in silence, having not said a word since their spat.

Klaus sighed, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry," he apologized. Caroline turned her head very so slightly to look at him. "I suppose in a way…that was a bit amusing," he admitted.

Caroline nodded. "Thank you," she said instead of the usual "I forgive you." "But you're right. I took that way too far…"

"Just a bit," Klaus agreed, smiling sideways at her. Caroline lightly smiled back at him.

As they reached the doors of the building, Klaus held open the door for her. Both of them squinted at the bright sun. Caroline looked down to avoid the sun while Klaus steered them right to head for the car. Klaus moved his hand in Caroline's direction until he felt her fingers in his palm. Maneuvering his hand around, he locked his hand in hers, pulling her slightly towards him. Caroline reacted by taking his hand in both of hers and leaning onto his arm, resting her head on his shoulder while she smiled at him being so close to her. Klaus placed a single kiss on the top of her head as he came to a stop behind his car. Sticking the key into the back, he opened the trunk and set the new bag to the collection Caroline had building up. And in the corner of the trunk was a single, dark blue bag that contained the few things Klaus had purchased.

Pushing the top back down in place, Klaus turned to Caroline and looked down at her. Caroline smiled up at him. "Thank you," she mumbled.

Klaus kissed her cheek quickly, gently taking his hand from her. "Anything for you, sweet Caroline," he responded, moving towards the driver's door.

They both got in and Klaus began driving off towards the hotel he intended for them to stay in.

"Where are we going?" Caroline questioned as Klaus pulled up into the parking lot of a giant hotel.

"To our room," he replied simply.

Caroline didn't ask any more questions as they went inside of the building and Klaus asked the secretary for the nicest room they had.

"That would be the honey moon suite," she replied, making sure that was acceptable for the two of them.

Klaus turned slowly and smirked at Caroline, who replied by narrowing her eyes at him in a 'Don't get smart' way. "Excellent," Klaus told the woman while he continued to smile at Caroline. "We'll be here for a week."


	16. The Sweetest Man on Earth

Thank you guys so much for the reviews! Helps a million! Alright, hopefully this one is good enough for you guys cause you're way better than I've been giving you credit for. Thank you for the encouragement with my life problems! Made me super happy!

Please excuse all grammar errors. In order for me to post this chapter today, I did not have time to proof read. My apologies.

* * *

><p>Bonnie had taken Tyler inside the house and sat him down in the living room. She'd offered him some beverages, but he had cut to the chase. "Where is Caroline?" he asked casually.<p>

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, thinking. "Caroline. She had to leave town for a while," she said in truth.

Tyler gave her a blank look. "For what?" he interrogated.

Bonnie shook her head quickly and frowned. "Family issues," she said, "I think."

Tyler had a look about him that clearly said there was something he wasn't getting. "Ok. When did she leave?"

Bonnie inhaled deeply, thinking. "This morning," she said, again – not lying.

Tyler looked down and rubbed the back of his hand. "And she'll be gone for how long?" he checked.

Bonnie bit her lip. "A week." She nodded. "That's what she said…"

Tyler chuckled, just out of nervousness. "Did she know I was coming home?" he asked, looking up shyly.

"I don't think anyone knew you were coming home. No one knew where you were," she pointed out.

"I left her a message," he said, as if that would change things somehow.

Bonnie frowned. If he had sent a message, then Caroline would have known. Unless someone had prevented her from seeing it. Bonnie snapped herself out of her thoughts in time to answer Tyler. "She's been having major cell issues. Something about not being able to pay for the bill," she finally lied.

It seemed to work. Tyler didn't look so tense after she said that. He actually smiled at her. "Right. I don't know what I'm freaking out about. It's not like she's deliberately avoiding me," he chuckled.

Bonnie forced herself to smile. "Yeah, she wouldn't do that," she lied again. That was exactly what Caroline was doing that exact moment. Bonnie was getting the feeling she should tell Tyler…but that was exactly what Caroline didn't want her to do. But she was kind of putting Bonnie in a tough spot here… Bonnie didn't have time to decide whether or not to tell Tyler everything because her phone started ringing. She gave Tyler an apologetic look and pulled her phone out of her pocket, clicking talk when she saw it was Stefan Salvatore. "Yeah?" she answered.

Tyler was a vampire, yes, so he should have been able to hear Stefan's part of the conversation, but Stefan was speaking in such a low tone that Tyler could only make out sudden words. But that wasn't good enough, because the look that took over Bonnie's face was anything but good. Her dark skin went slightly pale, and her eyes became huge. Tyler strained himself to listen closer to Stefan's quiet voice. "…Ago…hospital…car…" That was all he gathered out of it all.

Bonnie never responded to Stefan, never made any noise that she acknowledged him, just listened with a look on her face like she had just seen a ghost. Tyler didn't question anything. He waited patiently until Bonnie was finished. But when he heard the tone of the end of the receiver, he knew that Stefan had hung up, but Bonnie was too stunned to remove the phone from her ear. "Bonnie?" Tyler asked softly, reaching over to tap her arm.

Bonnie slowly looked back to Tyler, a tear slowly erupting from her eye. Tyler continued to calmly persuade her into speaking, but all she could do was hope she caught her breath long enough to speak. She inhaled deeply, feeling the pit of her stomach contract and knot up into a ball. She brought her hand down from her face and held it against her stomach, not being able to take the sudden nausea. "Elena's dead."

Tyler didn't react at first; he merely stared at Bonnie, like more was coming. "What?" he finally demanded.

Bonnie shook her head faintly as another tear rolled down her face and the back of her throat became incredibly sore. "There was a crash this morning," she whispered. "She was in the middle of it. Her car ended up in the ditch…" Bonnie's face contorted into one of pain. "And she didn't make it," she managed to wheeze out before coming apart.

Tyler quickly held Bonnie as she lost all composure and fell over into his side. He couldn't comprehend what was going on. Elena, his friend, was dead. Just like that. And here he had come, thinking everyone would rejoice in his return, only to be greeted by Death's hand upon someone he cared deeply about. He couldn't think, couldn't feel. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. He didn't cry, didn't hurt. All he could do now was wonder how everyone else could possibly be coping. How his Caroline could be coping. Falling apart in despair without her boyfriend there to hold her and stroke her hair, and tell her comforting things. He could only see her bent down on the ground, weeping alone in the dark, feeling completely abandoned by everyone…

.

Caroline squealed in terror as she ran from where she knew Klaus was reaching for her. The giant grin on her face hurt her cheeks. The suite they had gotten was larger than they'd expected, much larger. She'd told him he could never get her, and he was proving her wrong.

She leapt over the long sofa and ran to one of three large closets in the opposite side of the room from Klaus. She was in the closet and had the door shut in a flash with her super-speed. Her eyes were closed in the panic of the moment. Her hair was a mess, getting into her face and falling in the wrong directions. She bit her lip, smiling, and tried to keep from breathing the dusty air of the pitch black closet. She could only imagine Klaus was right outside the door, smelling her out or listening for her heartbeat. Opening her eyes, she slowly turned her body to face the door, and listened for him in return. There was just silence outside the closet door. Ever so carefully, she turned the handle and opened the door a tiny crack, looking around frantically. She decided he was somewhere else in the suite looking for her. Confident with her decision, she pursed her beaming lips and opened the door far enough for her to stick her toes out, intending to find a better hiding place.

Her entire foot was out of the door, her ankle following in pursuit. She truly believed she could move around without him hearing. But she was wrong. As the bottom of her leg started exiting the black closet, firm hands suddenly attacked her sides from behind, and Caroline screamed in surprise. She twirled around to face the attacker inside the closet and ended up jumping back out of the door in freight and shock. Klaus rushed out of the closet right behind her, grinning and trying to keep her in his reach.

By the time Caroline managed to pull herself from his hands and turn around, she had run into the back of the couch. With another yelp, she fell over the back and landed promptly in the cushions, laying down and pulling her hands up to her chest, just to stop the body she knew would soon jump over the couch just as she had.

And sure enough, as she stared at the white ceiling, she got just two second to brace herself before she saw a body come flying from behind the couch and land on top of her. She laughed out loud as she pushed on his chest so he wouldn't make too much of an impact. But Klaus had already thought of that. As he finally settled from the leap, Caroline saw he had used his arms to keep himself from landing completely on her. She stared up at his rustled hair and slightly panting lips. There was a smirk in the very corner of his lips as he stared down at her worn out face.

"I think my point is: I _can_ get you," he concluded their game.

Caroline wrinkled her lip and shook her head. "I was going easy on you," she corrected.

Klaus chuckled. "Of course you were. The screams of terror showed just how relaxed and easy you were going," he said sarcastically.

Caroline managed to exert the rest of her energy in a giggle with a deep inhale at the end. Klaus sighed also and pushed himself up with his arms, standing up from the couch and looking out the giant window at all of the lit up buildings around them. He shook his head. "You bring out the child in me, Caroline." Caroline smiled at that. She liked having some effect on him. "I haven't acted this carefree since I was human."

At that, the smile faded from her face. She sat up on the couch and crossed her legs, leaning over them as she propped herself up on the cushions on either side of her with her arms. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" she asked timidly.

Klaus looked back to her with a confused expression. "It's good. You're my escape from this world," he smiled at her. He walked over and sat down next to her. "Why would that be a negative idea?"

Caroline shrugged. "I don't know…" she stalled, but then decided telling him might be easiest. "Because if you're reminded of something, chances are you miss it." She twisted her lips to the side and looked sideways at him.

Klaus nodded, thinking about her answer. "Yes, I suppose so. But I also suppose any vampire that says they don't miss being human is a liar," he added. "Of course I miss it. Is that a sin?"

Caroline sighed. "If someone reminds me of my father, I'd hang around them because I can catch glimpses of him in them." She stopped to think about the next part of her explanation. "But everyone knows that I'm looking for those glimpses because I hope he'll come back. When I finally realize he's not…then I start hating that person because I've translated their being into something…false…" She was frowning at the ground, but when she concluded the story, she looked back up to Klaus, waiting for his comment.

He had his eyes narrowed at her in thought. "You think I'm going to hate you because you remind me of the humanity I will never have back?" he checked.

Caroline very subtly nodded in affirmation, staring at something ahead of her. Klaus leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. He pulled his lips back, but kept his face near hers, looking closely into her turned eyes. "Caroline, I will never… _never_ hate you," he whispered.

"You can't promise that," she whispered, faintly shaking her head and staring intensively at the spot of carpet she had picked out. "No one can promise that."

Klaus bent his head and kissed her shoulder. "How can I convince you?"

Caroline looked at him, her hair dangling from her head. "You can't."

Klaus watched her closely as her eyes fell to his chest, avoiding his eyes. It was completely the truth. He couldn't promise or convince her that he would never hate her. But he did fully love the turn of events in just the past day. The previous morning, he had been trying to keep her from hating him, and now she was worrying that someday he would leave her. Klaus smiled, remembering what he had told himself. He'd sworn to himself that the day she worried about their relationship he would give her something, and it just so happened that he had that something in his car.

"I have something for you," he said, smirking.

Caroline chuckled. "My phone?" she asked, bringing up the topic that he still had her cellphone.

"Oh," Klaus chuckled, reaching into his jean pockets and handing over her phone. "Sorry, darling." Caroline smirked at him as she took it from him and held it in her lap. "But no, Caroline. You'll like this, I promise."

"You should really stop making promises you can't be sure of, Mikaelson," she said, giving him a trying look.

Klaus patted her knee once before standing up and walking out of the room. Caroline checked her phone while he was out. "Of course," she mumbled, looking at the black screen. "It's dead." She looked around for a second before remembering. "And I don't have my charger!" she said mock cheerfully, like it was a good thing. "Looks like this is a Caroline Life free trip…" she told herself, looking around. What she had said was basically true. The events that were going to take place from that exact moment were things that majorly affected her life, but she would not know about any of it. She was disconnected from Mystic Falls for the time being. And she was with Klaus, she thought. "Caroline Life free…" she mumbled again.

As she thought about her last words and what she was doing, she began to wonder, just for a second, if she was in her right mind. Running away with Klaus and even shopping with him was a huge step for someone – especially someone like her – to be deciding on within just twenty four hours of even having the _idea_ of being with him. Had they moved way too fast? They went from enemies to lovebirds in just one day. In just one morning, to be exact.

Caroline didn't have time to get into the part of her thought that led her to dread. Klaus came to their rescue before she had the chance. He came inside the door, bringing Caroline's attention to him. He had a box in his hand. Jewelry. Caroline became weary about the gift. She'd told him before not to give her jewelry; but, of course, he wasn't going to listen to her.

He came closer with a proud smile on his face. Caroline's face, however, wasn't that positive. Her eyebrows slightly pulled together in worry that he would give her something like another bracelet that she would end up throwing to his feet. Klaus sat down on the couch sideways so he could face her. He held the velvet, black box that covered up the palm of his hand. "Caroline Forbes, would you do me the honors of wearing thi–"

"Are you proposing _now_?" she asked, reminding him of that night he had presented her with a ring and she had assumed he was asking for her hand in marriage.

Klaus stared at her without speaking for a few seconds. "I'm not even holding a ring," he informed her.

"Then what are you holding?" she asked, now thinking it was a necklace.

Klaus opened the box while staring at her, watching her every move. What was inside the box was not what she was expecting. In fact, she didn't even know what it was. It was just almost a cluster of gorgeous, red, twinkling rubies just plopped into the bottom of the box. Her smile was fake. "Oh! …What is it?" she asked enthusiastically.

Klaus shook his head at her. More like at her generation. Women these days…if they didn't know what it _was_, then they didn't care. He picked up one of the jewels, and as he lifted, the others followed. They were all connected by some sort of tiny chain that blended in with the red.

"Necklace?" she tried, thinking that was the obvious answer.

Klaus shook his head, setting the box down in his lap. "This, my dear, is something that isn't exactly in stores any longer. They're rare now," he explained, examining it with care.

Caroline watched him, waiting for the correct response. But he just went on staring at the cluster of tangled rubies. "What is it?" she asked slowly, like she was talking to an insane person.

"Take your earrings out," Klaus instructed, messing with the chain, finding the end.

Caroline frowned at him as she removed the studs from her ears and held them in her hands. Klaus moved her hair from her face and held up the string of rubies he had now untangled. It looked exactly like a necklace. The ends he held on to were the connecting points for the three rows of rubies that were strung together. He lifted it and Caroline sat perfectly still as he placed it on top of her head like a tiara-slash-headband.

When it was relaxed on her head, he moved to her right ear and did something Caroline couldn't quite figure out. "What are you doing?" she asked as his fingers fiddled with something on her ear.

"These have earrings on the ends, and I'm installing them," he explained.

"Installing?" Caroline repeated in a worried voice.

Klaus sighed, realizing his words were not exactly reassuring for her generation. "I'm just putting them in."

Caroline became a little more relaxed again as he switched to her other ear. She sat patiently until he was finished. He pulled back and smiled at her. Her eyebrows rose. "Well?"

Klaus stood up and held a hand out for her. Caroline took it and followed him to a mirror. Taking a breath, she looked at herself. Her expression stayed the same as her eyes fell on the stunning, but unusual accessory. "You've made me a gypsy," she concluded, smirking. It was true, kinda. The rubies were almost like a flat crown on her head, and random strands of jewels fell down to sway back and forth with the rest of her blonde hair. She looked like a gorgeous, ancient, magical woman.

Klaus smiled. "You'll learn to love it," he informed her like he knew it was coming.

Caroline raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh?" She turned from the mirror to question him. "Will I, now?" she tried, crossing her arms.

Klaus looked down at her with his perfect smile. "Yes, because it has powers," he said teasingly.

Caroline narrowed her eyes. "Does it really?"

"Yes, it really does," he affirmed, taking a step closer to her so he could stare down at her even more.

"What does it do?" she asked, getting a little excited.

Klaus shook his head slowly. "That's for you to figure out."

Caroline dropped her arms in a huff and stomped her foot quickly. Klaus chuckled at her actions as she frowned at him. "Why can't you just make this easy and tell me?" she demanded.

Klaus frowned back at her in a mocking way, mirroring her. He reached for her hands and held them to his chest while he stuck his bottom lip out at her. "Because I'm not that easy," he pouted back.

Caroline, against her will, chuckled at his actions. He was so damn precious. Even being a thousand years old, he still acted like a child for her. He leaned his head down and kissed her hands that he held together in his large ones. Caroline watched his lips press against her knuckled, and felt tingles erupt on her hands. He was so loving towards her…she felt like the most important woman on the earth.

Klaus pulled his head back and held her right hand up. "They're a set, the ring and the headring."

"Headring?" Caroline repeated, hardly believing that was the right word for it.

Klaus frowned and shook his head, like he was dismissing the comment. "No one could remember what they were called."

Caroline rolled her eyes as Klaus' fingers flexed around hers. "Well, whatever it is, thank you," she said.

Klaus bowed his head down. "Anything for you, darling."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "That's a lie," she accused.

Klaus inhaled, getting ready for some sort of snarky comment from her. "What is?"

"You doing anything for me," she said, smiling a little and taking her hands back to her own. She walked around him, heading for nothing in particular.

Klaus slowly turned with her and watched her as she strolled away. "Why the sudden change in attitude?"

Her shoulders went up then down. She had an act on. One that told him he should already know what she was getting at – but that she wasn't going to push it. "I just don't believe you'd do anything for me."

Klaus crossed his arms and stared at her, a bit of an attitude coming to him too. She was about to go somewhere she shouldn't; Klaus just had to wait to see which private road she would trespass into this time. "And to back your side of the argument up…" he dragged, waiting for her evidence.

She stopped in front of the couch and ran her fingers carelessly along the top of a lamp that stood beside it. "Well," she started, looking up to him. "I've been asking you for three months to give me Tyler back…" There it was. The 'Tyler Road.' "But you don't want to do that," she finished.

Klaus dropped his head to look at the ground as he thought about how to reply to her. Somehow, this always came up – no matter how well they had been getting along. And things had been going fantastic that day, from nine o'clock that morning to nine o'clock now. But he should have known that twelve hours was his limit before Tyler would be brought up. She had most likely planned that. She'd gone with him to make him _think_ for just a second that they could be together… "Are you here for me, or for Tyler?" Klaus asked in a deep voice as he continued to watch the floor.

Caroline knew what he said, but she didn't register what he meant. She watched him for a few seconds, waiting for him to say more. But he didn't. "I'm sorry?" she asked, looking for clarification.

He lifted his head to look at her. His face was serious and a tad upset. "Why are you here? To be with me, or to persuade me into giving you your boyfriend?" he said in a bitter tone.

Caroline frowned at him, a bit shocked. "You think I would sink that low?" she asked in an offended tone.

"I think you would sink anywhere if it came down to the love of your life," he snapped, telling her the truth.

Caroline scoffed. She inclined her head to the left. "Well then, looks like you know me better than I thought you did." Klaus nodded, catching his answer. Caroline reached up to her ears and began unclipping the 'headring' from her ears. "But you still don't know me at all," she added, pulling the sting of rubies off of her head and placing it on a nearby table. She turned her body to him and sat down on the couch, keeping her eyes on him. "I wouldn't do that to you."

Klaus followed her every action, now staring down at her as she leaned into the back of the couch. "You wouldn't do what, exactly?" he checked in his continuing nasty tone.

"I wouldn't pretend to be interested in you, Klaus," she said in a matter-of-factly voice. She locked eyes with his, thinking about her next choice of words. "I really do want to give us a shot…" she finally admitted.

Klaus still didn't entirely believe her. "And Tyler? You're not concerned about him when it comes to our relationship?"

Caroline bit the inside of her lip. "Of course I'll be concerned about him. I'll be concerned until you let him go. But right now, on this little trip, he doesn't matter. And I'm sorry I brought him up before, I couldn't help it." She could almost smell the uncertainty Klaus had radiating off of him. She was being completely honest. But she didn't know how to tell him.

Crawling over the couch, she leaned over the arm rest and took his hand. "Klaus," she said in a soothing, almost pleading way. She started sitting back as she pulled his hand with her. He reluctantly walked around the couch until he stood before her, looking down at her saddened eyes. "I'm telling you the truth," she almost whispered. She clutched his hand with both of hers. She looked down at them, not being able to stare into his blue eyes while confessing this. "I love the way you treat me," she mumbled, rubbing the back of his hand. "I'm obsessed with the way I feel when I'm around you…and I think…" she hesitated. "I think even if I had Tyler back, I couldn't let that go…"

Klaus was finally starting to ease into her words. This was the first affection she was verbally confessing. Caroline looked back up to his eyes; she looked lost, but confident at the same time. "And I bring Tyler up because I'm afraid that if I don't, it will confirm everything, and I'm afraid…" Her voice faded and her eyes dropped again.

"Of what?" he asked in a quiet, soothing voice.

Caroline took a deep breath. "I'm afraid that I need you more than I need him."

So much relief swept over Klaus. But also regret. She was finally starting to need to be around him. That had been Klaus' goal from the start, but he had started to think that she never would. She was truly made of iron. But his regret started over taking the relief. He had played her to this point. He had become something he wasn't. He wasn't the man to lie to women, or to become incredibly loving towards them. He had been solid for the past thousand years, and then Caroline came along and he was just like a love sick puppy. That wasn't him. She was falling for the wrong man. But he couldn't tell her that; she would leave him. So, what was his option? He had to show her his dark side, his real side. If they were going to be together, Klaus would be with her, not…_this_ Klaus.

Klaus flexed his fingers around hers and slowly sat down next to her, as close as he could get without actually being on her. "Caroline…" He took a second to gather his thoughts – what to say and what not to say. "I hope you realize that I'm not like this all the time."

Caroline continued to watch his hand. "Not like what?" she mumbled.

"Sweet, loving, careful, nice…" He could have gone on for an hour describing what he was doing then that wasn't natural for him. "I'm not Tyler. I won't always be showing my affectionate side."

"Your human side," she addressed, referring to what he had said previously. "And I know," she informed him, looking up with just her eyes. "That's what makes this whole thing not quite…real. I know you're really a monster. So when you give me things and dance with me and take me shopping," she chuckled as she listed off, "it just doesn't seem real because Hybrid Niklaus would never do that."

Klaus looked down at their intertwined fingers as she spoke, realizing that she was completely right. "Those are things I would do, Caroline," he corrected her. "I just haven't had anyone in my life for me to act that way towards since my earlier years."

A poorly hidden smile of pride started on Caroline's face. "What exactly are you saying?" she questioned.

Klaus smiled adoringly at her. "I'm stating that you are the first woman in over two thousand years that I have fallen over my feet trying to impress."

Caroline frowned at him. "When did you impress me?" she interrogated, smiling, making his heart pick up.

Klaus frowned right back at her in a way that said he couldn't believe her. He slowly started bringing his other hand up and around her shoulders as he said, "Oh, I have impressed you plenty of times!"

"Like what?" she said each word as its own sentence. Her head slightly fell back to rest on his arm as she questioned him.

Klaus had to stutter a few times before he thought of any evidence. "The ring, you loved that," he informed her.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Gifts don't count," she made up.

He turned himself on the couch to face her, bringing one leg up under him. "I impressed you by dancing with you," he said, reminiscing.

She shook her head again. "I knew you could dance. I wasn't surprised or impressed by that one," she corrected.

Klaus licked the front of his lips, thinking how difficult she was being and also what else he could bring up. "My sweet side," he said a bit more gently. "That had to have impressed you somewhat."

Caroline started to smile. That was very true. She had no idea he could be that kind of person. "Alright," she finally admitted. "You impressed me with that." Her eyes stared up at him and her smile split her face. "Who would have known that the deadliest serial killer in the world could also be as soft as a teddy bear," she chuckled.

Klaus smiled down at her, bending his arm so he was kind of hugging her head. "I can be the sweetest man on earth for you, darling," he said down at her in a dreamy voice.

Caroline chuckled. "Yeah, right," she sarcastically agreed with him. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"You underestimate my power, dear Caroline," he joked down at her, leaning his head closer to hers every second. "There are things about me you wouldn't believe. And I plan on sharing everything with you," he whispered.

Caroline's smile had become sober. She stared up into his brilliantly blue eyes that were so close to her, yet so distant. "Promise?" she whispered back in a longing way. She wanted to know him, wanted to be as close to him as she possibly could be.

Klaus watched her closely, becoming consumed with the hope that she would love him some day, with the hope that she stayed with him long enough for him to show her everything he could offer. It was unbelievable what she was doing to him. He had thought he'd never love again…but he was starting to think she could change that.

Leaning forward, Klaus buried his face in her hair and kissed her neck. Caroline's eyes fell shut as his kiss moved up to her cheek, leaving a tingling trail across her skin. Her hand left their intertwined ones and she hooked it around his neck, turning her face to meet his. Klaus pulled her closer to him on the couch as his lips were rushed into a kiss by hers. Caroline's train of thought was lost as she tried to get closer to Klaus. Never had she felt this much need. Klaus was something she'd never dreamed existed, yet here he was, offering her everything. She kissed him harder, wrapping her arm around his neck. She never wanted to let him go. And she prayed to God that he would never leave her either.

.

Stefan stared down at Elena's body – her dead body. Damon stood on the other side of her. The hospital room was silent. The beeping of the machine they'd had her hooked up to had gone silent long ago. Damon was hoping, praying, that somehow she had gotten vampire blood into her system. Stefan, however, was hoping that she was with her parents, or hanging around to say her last words to him.

But Elena was silent. Her eyes were closed, her fingers cold. She was gone. And no matter how much they hoped and prayed…she wasn't coming back.


	17. The Wedding Picture

Jeremy looked over his sister's dead body. His face was wet with tears. "Is she coming back?" he asked in a low tone to anyone that would listen. He stood stroking her pale cheeks. They had maybe five minutes before the doctors came and ushered them out.

Bonnie sat in a chair next to the bed, staring at her dead friend. Her gut felt like it was balled up and wouldn't untangle itself, not even to let her cry. She could only make pained faces and grip the arms of the chair with all her might to keep from screaming.

"She didn't have blood in her system," Stefan answered Jeremy. He was talking about vampire blood and the possibility she would come back and live forever. But that was something they could only wish for. He was standing in the corner of the room, watching everyone say their final goodbyes to Elena's corpse.

Damon stared at the floor expressionless. "That's what she wanted," he murmured, telling himself that it was right that she wasn't a monster like himself. That it was right he had passed out in the car accident so he couldn't have forced blood into her. She wouldn't have wanted that.

Everyone was silent. Bonnie, Damon, Stefan, Jeremy, Matt, and Tyler all stood around the room, feeling the last of Elena's spirit slowly fade from the room.

"Did anyone get a hold of Caroline?" Tyler asked, wanting to know where she was. Surly she would have rushed home when they told her what had happened.

"I called her four times," Bonnie said in her rare moments of taking a breath between dry sobs.

"I tried to contact her," Jeremy said. "I think her phone is d–"

He tried to make the word "dead" unnoticeable, but everyone caught it. They paid no attention, trying not to think about it. Damon clenched his hands together and kept his eyes off of Elena's body, keeping his cool around everyone in the room. He was so close to killing himself, it was all he could think about. It was his fault, and he would make himself pay.

Tyler took out his own phone and started walking to the door. "I'll try to get her again," he said in a low tone as he opened the door and stepped out. He stepped to the side of the hall as the door shut behind him and a couple of nurses walked by, pushing an old woman in a chair. The sounds and smells of the hospital made him feel insecure. He stuffed his right hand into his pocket as the left hand held the phone to his ear. He found a place on the marble floor to stare as he waited for the ringing.

But the other end immediately went to her voicemail. He sighed as he got the familiar beep. "Caroline, I don't know where you are or what you're doing, but we need you back here. I'm sure you got Bonnie's messages. Just...get home as soon as you can. Please..."

Kol clenched his jaw in irritation and pure hatred for the world. The door to the house shut behind him and he stood there, waiting for the fury he knew was to come.

And sure enough, as he watched the empty hallway, he could sense the strong vibes coming from his eldest brother from inside the house. He knew Elijah was trying to keep himself calm; but slowly, the calming vibes faded and everything became anger.

In a flash, Kol was pinned against the wall, Elijah's hand to his throat, and their sneering faces staring straight at one another.

"What had I told you?" Elijah growled lowly, his hand shaking with rage.

"I know full well what you told me. Never did I agree to kill Katherine," Kol sneered back. "And what does it matter? It didn't work anyway."

"Had you listened," Elijah yelled, "it would have!" His grip on his brother's neck became harder and he knew Kol couldn't breathe. But that wasn't an issue at the moment. Kol continued to glare right back at his brother's livid eyes. Inside all the furry and anger and unspeakable rage, Kol saw tears.

Kol came to realization quickly. But in his understanding, he did not become regretful for killing the Gilbert girl – he felt even more envy and frustration. "You loved her," he hissed in disgust at his brother. "You weren't supposed to do that," he reminded with a glare.

Elijah pulled Kol from the wall and slammed him to it again even harder. "And you weren't supposed to kill her!" he roared back, shaking harder.

"And good thing I did!" Kol snapped back. "Love ruins us, Elijah!" Elijah's eyes stared back into his brother's, trying his best not to snap his neck out of all his lividness. "Look where it's gotten you! You have your brother up against the wall because one pathetic girl died!"

Elijah pulled back from Kol, stepping back and watching him fall down to the ground. Kol gathered himself and slowly stood up, watching Elijah carefully. Elijah did not respond to Kol. He spoke with his actions. Now that Kol wasn't pinned to the wall, he could see Elijah's form perfectly. And he saw, in Elijah's hand, a dagger. Kol's brother wasn't one to threaten people. If he approached you with a weapon, it wasn't to frighten you. He intended to use the weapon, no matter what you exchanged in the conversation.

Kol shook his head faintly at Elijah. There was a smile of disbelief on Kol's face. "You can't kill me," he whispered confidentially.

"And why can't I? You were able to kill Elena," Elijah said back emotionlessly.

"She was just a girl." Kol flexed his fingers one by one, getting ready in case Elijah pounced. But he knew he could never hold him off. Elijah was the fastest of the brothers, and Kol didn't stand a chance at that moment. "I'm your own flesh and blood."

"My own flesh and blood wouldn't do this to me," Elijah said in a low voice.

"Klaus never did? He put you in a box for years, but what I've done is worse than that?" Kol clarified.

Elijah looked hurt at these words. Like he was offended that Kol didn't understand how this was the worst possible thing family could do. His eyes were hurt and damp with tears.

"You killed the woman I loved…"

Kol stared for a moment, but that was all the time he had. Elijah had stepped forward and sunk the dagger into his chest before he could plead for his life.

"My phone's dead," Caroline complained, holding it over the couch to Klaus, who was on the other side, for him to see she wasn't lying.

He didn't even look at the phone, just continued to work on his drawing. "Yes, I'm sure it is with all the texting you do in a single day," he mumbled.

Caroline scoffed as she brought her hand back to her lap, looking down at the black screen. "Thank you for the support," she sassed back.

Klaus breathed deeply as he said, "It's a phone. What would you like me to do about it?" He turned his head to get a different perspective of his drawing as he worked his pencil back and forth against the paper.

"Well, Million Dollar Man, you could buy me a charger," she suggested.

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "I'm going to forget you called me that and go back to ignoring you," he told her.

Caroline frowned at him. "Hey, we're supposed to be bonding, mister," she reminded him.

"We are," he said, turning his head again at the paper.

"How?" she sassily asked.

Klaus frowned at the picture in his lap and focused on it more intently. "Well, in the past twenty minutes I've gathered that you get bored easily, must be moving in some way at all times or you just might explode, check your phone every five minutes even though you know it's dead, glance at me every so often to make sure I'm not staring at you – or _am_ staring at you, I haven't pieced that together yet –, and you get cold in excellent climates," he concluded, looking up at her finally to give her a smile.

Caroline frowned at him, not happy. "How could you possibly know I get cold?" she asked.

Klaus looked down at her, and she followed his gaze to see that her legs were tucked under her and she was holding her hands together tightly. "Okay," she said sternly, "but that just lets me know that you notice when I'm uncomfortable and don't do anything about it," she snapped back smugly.

He turned his head to the paper on his lap. "Again, what would you like me to do about it?"

Caroline stuck her head out, like it was obvious. "You're the romantic type; offer me your jacket or something," she said, sticking to the unwanted cliché-ness in their relationship.

Klaus pulled the side of his jacket open with his left hand, beckoning her over to him. He stared at his picture, still not looking at her. Caroline rolled her eyes and moved over to his side of the couch. She got as close to him as possible inside of his coat and he wrapped his arm around her. She looked down at his picture as he continued to move the pencil around on the paper. She saw it was almost a mountain landscape. A lake in the middle of the picture, and millions of trees surrounding it. It looked like the trees were slanted down at the lake almost like a football stadium, with the lake being the football field.

"Is that all you draw? Images of the wilderness?" she asked bluntly as she watched the stencil in his hand wiggle back and forth.

"No," he answered vaguely.

Caroline waited for the rest of the answer, but he remained quiet. She looked up at his face that was staring hard at the paper. "What else do you draw, then?" she asked more specifically.

"You wouldn't like it," he dismissed the question, glancing at her eyes for only a second. She saw a tiny smiled start on his lips.

Caroline's mind started racing at that tiny smile. That could mean so many different things. "What is it?" she demanded, thinking of the worst possible case.

Klaus shook his head. "I'm telling you, you really would prefer not to know about it," he said again, finally taking his eyes off of his paper and looking at her.

"And I'm telling you I want to see them," she said in a little less demanding voice.

Klaus sighed and put his pencil in his mouth, using his one available hand to flip through the pages of his notebook. Caroline bit her lip as she watched the papers flip under his thumb. She caught glances of shapes of gray she couldn't make out. He finally stopped on a picture of a close of up some girl's face. It took Caroline a couple seconds to realize it was her. "Oh," Caroline said as he took the pencil back out of his mouth and held it in his fingers while he waited for her to start yelling at him. "Well that's not that bad," she said like she was relieved. She took the notebook into her own hands and started turning the pages slowly. She looked at the details of her own stenciled face. "I was thinking naked pictures," she admitted her fear.

"Oh, no worries," he reassured her. "I burn all of the naked pictures of you so you don't see them," he joked.

Caroline studied a picture of herself while she elbowed him in the gut. After she hit him, she realized that in the picture of her, she had something over her face, like a curtain. As she studied it, she realized it was a wedding veil. A perfect replica of herself wearing a wedding accessory.

Caroline looked up at Klaus to see his face had sobered. "What is this?" she asked him in a voice barely above a whisper.

Klaus' eyes watched hers. "That's a picture of you," he answered.

"In a wedding dress," she finished for him. Klaus nodded, agreeing with her. Caroline watched him, waiting for him to go on, but once again, he didn't. "Why am I in a wedding dress?" she asked a little more solidly.

"Because I imagined you in it," he said back.

"And who was the groom?" she interrogated, wanting to hear him say it.

Klaus looked back to the picture, studying it like it was a memory from his past. "I was, of course."

Caroline tried to gather her thoughts. "S-so…you have…imagined us being married?" she clarified.

He took the papers from her and put them back on his lap. "Is there something wrong with that?" he asked while he flipped back to the scenery he had been working on.

"Yes," she answered after a seconds thought. "There are lots of things wrong with that," she informed him.

"Like what, might I ask?" he tried her.

Caroline shook her head as she stared at the arm of the couch he was leaning against. "So many things," she said again, trying to think of all the reasons so it would sound like a paragraph. Her words were coming out like she was unsure of how to finish the sentence. "That would indicate that you're incredibly serious about this whole thing…and that you like me a whole lot more than you're letting on…" She let her voice trail off as she spaced out on the table beside the couch, trying to think, but her imagination was running ramped. "Aaaand that would mean that you think I _can_ be a wife. And that means you think I'm the woman for you, which is completely absurd…" Klaus watched her as her mouth hung open while thinking for more reasons that were on the tip of her tongue. "You probably think that I'm mature enough to even go on a proper date. I mean, you're a billion year old, pompous, mannerly original. There's no way in hell I can even compare to that. I grew up singing along to 50-Cent. I know 'My Humps' by heart. When I even try to talk like people in the 17th century, I add 'st' on to the end of everything!" she listed off, suddenly not being able to keep her thoughts to herself. "I know nothing about life, I'm still obsessing over celebrity stars, and you're over here planning schemes to end the world. I would just be tagging along like your little pet. Not to mention the fact that villains aren't supposed to have wives. And if they do, they're like Cat Woman – sexy, dressed in black, just as evil minded as their husband. But back to the point, I'm scared enough being out of town with you. Who knows how I'm gonna act on a honeymoon–"

"Caroline," Klaus murmured in her ear in a low tone.

"Do vampires even get married?" she continued, not hearing him.

"Caroline," he said again, catching her attention that time. She looked up at him with troubled eyes. "It's just a picture," he reminded her. "Nothing has happened yet."

"That's what I'm concerned about," she informed him, looking back at the scenery in his hands. "The 'yet.'"

"Is the thought so horrible?" he asked, kind of offended she was making such a big deal.

Caroline widened her eyes. "Kinda!"

Klaus started making large sketches with his pencil across his piece of art, his emotions showing in the way he moved his hand. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way," he told the paper.

Caroline watched his face, trying to read him. He didn't look back at her. He stared intently at the paper in his lap. "You're not upset with me, are you?" she asked. It wasn't a sweet, apologetic question, it was a voice that made it clear she was pissed that _he_ was getting mad at her for nothing.

"No, Caroline," he started. "I'm thrilled that you think a serious relationship with me is the most repulsive thing you've ever heard," he snapped sarcastically. "Absolutely thrilled."

Caroline leaned away from him a bit, getting defensive. "I didn't say it was repulsive," she retorted.

"Really?" he tried her, looking up with his sharp eyes. "So I'm to take that the list of reasons that it was 'wrong' was really a pro list?" he questioned.

"No. I was just telling you why it was crazy."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, darling, but 'crazy' is not exactly a positive adjective."

"It's not exactly a positive idea!"

He shook his head and looked back to his lap. "And there you go again bashing the idea."

"What's not to bash, Klaus?" she demanded. "You're an idiot to even think us getting married is even a possibility!"

"How is this so shocking to you? People fall in love, they get married, they live with one another, why can't we?" he questioned her, coloring the sky a dark gray.

"Because you're Klaus!" she yelled at him. What she had said was not what she meant. She had more to add onto the sentence, but she lost her thoughts as she saw Klaus' reaction.

His pencil stopped moving, and his gaze lifted to just above the paper. He no longer looked as angry as he had been. He now looked like he was being told something he hadn't been prepared to hear. "You're saying the idea of getting married and living with someone is fine…unless it' s with me," he said in a very quiet voice, his tone demanding and not showing the hurt sketched on his face.

"No," Caroline said, her voice dropping back down to normal volume. "Well…yes," she changed her mind. "Yes. But only because you can't love," she said, using the wrong words yet again.

"I cannot love?" he repeated in an insulted tone, raising his eyebrows.

Caroline mentally kicked herself. "No, I didn't mean that…I'm just saying that…you _don't _love. You don't show affection to anyone, and you think of yourself only. That's a fact. So when you're sweet and nice to me, it's hard to register. And now that you're thinking of getting married…it's not you."

Klaus nodded, just to make her stop talking. He hummed a fake agreement and flipped back to the picture that started the entire conversation. "You're absolutely right," he said in mock agreement. He tore the picture out of the book of pages and took one last barely noticeable glance at the picture before crumpling it in his hands and throwing it across the room. It hit a corner and bounced almost soundlessly to the ground out of their sight. "There," he concluded, making to stand up. "Now we can forget that Klaus has any feelings at all," he said in triumph and walked away from the couch towards the other side of the apartment.

Caroline watched after the paper. She immediately regretted saying anything. That picture represented a side of Klaus he never let anyone see. He'd taken a chance letting her into it, and she'd practically made a disgusted face and stepped back from him. Klaus was a hard person, his soul was black. He was murderous and almost the devil in jeans. But he was still a person. He still had all the emotions everyone else did. When Tyler talked about their future, Caroline was excited about it. But when Klaus said it she shut him out.

Caroline looked up at Klaus' form from across the room. He was staring out the window, a look of someone closed up but dying to come out was on his face.

He was a prince looking for his sleeping beauty. More like a beast without his Belle. He wanted her to be the one to bring out his human side. So why wasn't she?

Caroline thought over it. Why wasn't she with him? Truly with him. He'd killed her friends and terrorized her town, yes, but because of her he had stopped drinking fresh blood. He was completely sweet to her when she needed someone there for her. He treated her like a woman, something no one else in that town did. He stopped his family from killing Elena in that stupid sacrifice thingy.

But he was also blackmailing her. The whole time she'd been warming up to him, he'd been holding Tyler captive. He was, currently, still holding him under his thumb. Klaus used people to get what he wanted, and until that changed, she'd always be at a distance from him.

Always.

The doctor stood to the side as Elijah stood over the covered body. Elena's body. Slowly, Elijah reached up and pealed the sheet away, revealing his lover's pale, dead features. He placed his warm hand on her cold cheek, feeling her soft, but distant skin under his fingertips. The lips he had kissed not ten hours ago were now blue and lifeless. They would never speak again. They would never kiss him again. Her eyes were shut. Her dark brown swarms would never look into his again. And her spirit was not even on display for him to study. It was gone from that world, and he would never be lifted by its liveliness ever again.

They'd let her die. The entire town had just let her take her last breath. The hospital didn't try hard enough. The ambulance didn't reach her fast enough. _He _didn't reach her fast enough. But he wasn't about to blame himself for something _they_ did. No. They would pay. Elijah took his hand from her face gently and covered her back up, shielding her from his anger. He turned slowly to the man behind him. The bald, tall man that was to make sure she had lived – but he failed.

"She'd dead," Elijah informed him.

The man frowned. "Yes, we're aware. And we're very sorry for your loss," he added.

"Are you?" Elijah questioned, taking a step closer. "Because, I think if it had been someone you loved in the same position as her, you would have done everything in your power to keep her alive." He came within ten steps of the man, who was beginning to look a little worried. "But now my love is dead. And you didn't even try to save her."

The man nodded slowly, backing up towards the door. "We tried everything we could, sir. There was no way to recover her from her injuries."

"You would be a fool to never have heard of vampire blood, and the power it has," Elijah said darkly. "I happen to know that there's a stash of it here in this hospital, and that everyone who works here knows to use it in emergency cases."

The man didn't speak this time. He looked scared, just as he should have been.

"So why, may I ask, did you not use it?" Elijah demanded in a low tone, coming close to the man now. Too close for comfort.

"W-we cannot use it unless the person is–"

"Is dying," Elijah finished. He stopped coming closer at last, and he stared at the man in hatred. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but there is a process to becoming dead. You go from living…to dying….to dead. And in that time, from Elena dying to her losing her last hold on life, you never thought to help her with your best medicine?" Elijah questioned.

The man stared at him in pure fright now. He managed to shake his head ever so slightly to say 'No, I hadn't thought of it.'

Elijah inclined his head to the side. "Pity," he said with discourage on his face. "Men like you are called idiots," Elijah murmured. "And there are so many idiots in the world…that I'm sure no one will miss you too terribly."

The man put his hand on the handle of the door, intending to open it and yell for help, but he never got the chance. Elijah snapped his neck before his fingers could wrap around the knob.

The man fell to the floor. Elijah fixed his tie and opened the door, never looking at the dead body at his feet. He exited the room, leaving his beloved and moving on to kill the rest of her murderers.

Caroline sat on the bed reading a book she had picked up at one of the stores. She'd gotten a quarter into it before Klaus' presence made her a bit uneasy. He had gone out a little after they fought, and he'd returned and went to the couch, doing nothing but thinking to himself. Caroline would glance up at him every so often and he would always be staring at the floor, playing with a ring he'd had on his finger. As she turned the page Klaus stood up. He came over to her and sat down on the bed next to her feet, looking at her as she studied her book, reading the same line over and over.

"Yes?" she asked after a few seconds.

Klaus took a second. "I owe you an apology," he said.

Caroline cocked an eyebrow at this, staring at the word 'power' in the book.

"I understand that being with me in that way is an unusual thought to you, and I should have recognized that in the first place. I'm sorry for saying what I did. I'm sorry for snapping at you. And I'm sorry for even getting upset in the first place," he concluded.

Caroline looked up at him, biting the corner of her lips. She was going to tell him that she was sorry for getting mad at _him_, but she decided not to say anything, just to see if he was happy with just him clearing the slate. "Accepted," she said softly.

Klaus nodded. "Thank you," he said, a small smile on his lips.

Caroline started to smile back. He wasn't expecting an apology. He just wanted to make up for his mistake, and act as if she had been right all along. Caroline started gathering her thoughts, preparing to say it, but Klaus continued. "Are you hungry, love?" he asked. He'd realized recently that it was nearly ten o'clock, at night, and they hadn't eaten that entire day.

She nodded her head to the side. "Just a tad," she said.

Klaus stood up and slowly came over to her side, placing his hand on her back. "Preference to food?" he asked, rubbing her gently.

Caroline closed her book, turning to put her legs over the side of the bed, right in front of Klaus. "Mexican okay with you?" she asked.

Klaus took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips. "Anything you like, darling," he said, kissing her fingers.

"You have blood in your car, don't you?" she asked, slowly standing up.

Klaus wound his arm around her back and pulled her to him, waving their intertwined hands around gently as if they were dancing. "Indeed," he answered.

Caroline chuckled as his movements. Klaus smiled at her glowing face. Just in a matter of seconds, she'd forgiven him and moved on – something no one had done since his mother. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Surprisingly, she leaned into him, wrapping her free hand around his neck. She laughed again as he moved his head to snuggle into her shoulder and neck. "Do you always get lovey-dovey when you're hungry?" she checked.

"Just trying to make up for the hate I've been showing," he said into her hair, taking a step towards her to get closer.

Caroline sighed into his ear. "It's fine, Klaus. And to be honest, you're even scarier when you act like this," she informed him.

He chuckled. "Oh believe me, darling," he said, pulling his head back to look at her. "I can be terrifying sometimes."

Caroline didn't laugh or roll her eyes at him like he had been expecting. She just stared at him, almost like she was confused and trying to sort her thoughts out. She slipped her hand from around his neck to his face, barely stroking below his eye with her thumb.

"What are you thinking?" he asked softly.

Caroline shook her head. She honestly didn't know. So many things were flying though her head, and she didn't want to think about any of it. She shook her head again, leaning up closer to him. She didn't say anything as she pulled his head down to hers and closed her eyes as his lips fell into perfect place with hers.

The kiss was slow, almost like a test between them. Caroline was testing herself, watching her reactions, and Klaus was testing her as well, trying to feel if the kiss was real. Caroline's stomach flittered and her eyelids sparkled. Her palms became cold as she became nervous. This definitively wasn't fake. If it was love, she didn't know. She'd never before felt the odd mixture of feelings she was feeling now. Not with Tyler, or Matt, or any other guys. This was different. She was honored to kiss him, and felt every second that she might screw it up.

The moment was amazing before they were kind of interrupted by Klaus' phone ringing.

Caroline fell back onto the heels of her feet and ran her hands down his chest as she pulled away from his lips. Klaus looked slightly irritated as he took his phone from his back pocket and tossed it onto the bed, letting it continue to ring. "You're not gonna get that?" she asked.

Klaus was taking himself away from her and reaching for his coat from the chair next to the bed. "No. 'Caroline life-free weekend,' if I recall correctly," he said.

He took her hand and led her towards the door. "But that was part of 'Klaus' life,'" she informed him.

He opened the door as he said, "Which is part of the same town, people, and issues as Caroline's." He allowed her to exit before closing the door behind himself. "No phone calls or any sort of contact with Mystic Falls."

Caroline followed him as he walked her down the hallway. "What about checking my phone for voicemails?"

Klaus opened the door to the stairwell. "Must you?"

"Kinda," she said straightforwardly as she walked through the door.

He rolled his eyes as they started down the stairs. "In that case, you might as well."

"My phone's dead," she reminded as they turned the corner and went down another flight.

"I'll get you a charger tomorrow." He intertwined their fingers to make a point. "Tonight, we're on a date, and it's nothing but us."

Caroline smirked to herself. "And the Mexicans…" she added. "Oh yeah, about that: did you take me as 'Mexican food' or 'actual Mexicans'?" she double checked.

Klaus turned them around another corner. "Well seeing as I'm not allowed to be dining on humans at the moment–"

"That's right!" Caroline exclaimed, having forgotten. "I'm so proud of you," she said, hugging the arm she was holding hands with.

"You have no right to be proud with me."

Caroline frowned and chuckled. "You're just a bundle of joy, you know that?" she joked. "Why can't anyone be proud? You're too good for us?"

Klaus pushed the door open to the lobby of the hotel. "The last three people that declared they were proud of me ended up trying to drive a stake through my heart," he told her. Caroline kept her eyes on him as he talked, trusting him to guide her around obstacles.

"You think I'm going to kill you?" she said like it was crazy.

"Wouldn't be the first time, darling," he reminded.

Caroline looked forward with a knowing look on her face. "Looks like you're just gonna have to trust me," she tested him.

Klaus smiled. "Fantastic," he mumbled sarcastically.

She pushed open the hotel doors and walked into the cool, black night. Buildings were lit up around them, and cars lit up the roads, add on the streetlights and it was almost like they didn't even need the sun. Caroline breathed in the thin air and looked around. She frowned when she saw a limo parked in front of her – like right in front of her. She wondered how she hadn't seen it the second she'd stepped outside. "Where are we going?" she asked, smiling in excitement at the formality of it all.

"Did you know that this down is in the middle of nowhere?" he asked her. He started moving her forward, but away from the black limo she'd gotten excited about. She started getting worried and made a few quiet noises of protest as he dragged her away from the slick ride. He knew she'd gotten happy about the fancy car, so he pulled her along as quickly as possible, talking over her sounds of disappointment. "Quite literally right outside of town is an amazing place to take a hike."

Caroline watched the limo as they got further and further away from it. "We're going hiking?" she said sadly.

"We're doing everything tonight, Miss Forbes." He stopped walking and took a sigh. "Anything and everything…"

Caroline finally turned around, leaving behind her baby. But as she looked up, she gasped. "Oh, mi God! Is that a horse carriage?"

Klaus studied the horses with care. "Indeed," he said, putting his hand in his pocket and giving hers a squeeze.

Caroline looked up at his face. "What exactly are we doing tonight? We're in the middle of a city; how the hell did you work horses onto the street?"

Klaus smirked and looked down at her. "I didn't just get the horses, darling." He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I got the entire town."

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><p>Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to everyone that has stuck with me and not hated my guts for taking so damn long!<p> 


	18. The City in Lights

**Alright, I admit, this really isn't all that amazing - but the next chapter will be up before Thanksgiving (22nd)! Love you guys so much for reading. Thank you for reviews! I read each and every one and some have actually brought tears to my eyes! Enjoy this filler! haha**

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you got the town?" Caroline questioned Klaus as he stepped up into the carriage.<p>

He took hold of the reigns and smirked. He hadn't driven horses for years. It was one of his favorite pastimes. But when he became a vampire, he just never seemed to find the time…until now. "Climb aboard, Miss Forbes," he said with a smile.

"You're so cheesy," she said while shaking her head at him. She chuckled once before grabbing the side of the carriage and pulling herself up into the seat beside Klaus. "Okay, now," she started as she made herself comfortable on the wooden bench, "explain what's going on."

Klaus frowned at her like that was the dumbest idea he'd ever heard. "And why would I do that? That would demolish the spontaneity of the entire evening."

"Yeah, well I don't like spontaneity!" she hissed.

Klaus looked sideways at her as she watched the horses. "Do you even know what the word means?" he questioned her.

Caroline pursed her lips. "Something to do with spontaneousness, which I don't like!"

Klaus tried not to chuckle. "Spontaneousness?" he tried to question her, but she cut him off half through the word.

"I will bite you," she warned.

Klaus smirked. "And the other day you wouldn't even let me breathe your air. Now you're threatening to sink your teeth into me." He looked back to the horses, holding the reigns up. "We're making excellent progress," he smiled and then flicked the horses into action.

Caroline smiled and held onto the front of the bench as they suddenly jolted forward. Somehow, Klaus was a master at steering the horses. "So you can control stubborn animals, but you can't manage an engine that you have _complete _control over?" she grilled him.

"Travel by carriage is underrated," he answered, looking proud of the horses he was directing. "Besides, cars can't be well hexed."

Caroline looked at him in confusion. That had honestly been the last thing she'd been expecting to hear. "You hexed this thing? How!?" It wasn't an excited 'how,' but more of an 'I know whatever you did is going to kill us.'

Klaus hushed her with a long hiss. "Just enjoy it," he whispered as he turned the horses onto a road that was randomly specked with cars.

Caroline smiled and looked around. Everything was lit up. She could see the heart of the town to their left, which was where Klaus was heading. Streetlights made the road glow, along with the headlights of cars. But this was nothing compared to what she could only imagine the town would be like.

Klaus leaned closer to her. "Where to, love?" he asked in her ear.

Caroline bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh with the adrenalin that was beginning to course through her. "Well for one, I am _not_ dressed for this occasion," she said, looking at her jeans that sat on the fancy carriage Cinderella probably rode in.

Klaus smiled and began steering the horses in a beeline, clearly knowing where he was going. "Said like a true woman," he muttered.

It took no time at all for Klaus to direct his horses into traffic on the road leading towards the center of the town. Caroline had laughed many times at the confused and angry faces of drivers around her. The traffic slowed down incredibly as they started passing buildings. Caroline noted that almost every single store had their Closed sign in their window. Caroline smiled at the scene in front of her when Klaus slowed down the horses to reach the speed limit (or like 20 below the speed limit). The road ahead of them went on for maybe three miles straight through the city. It was a narrow road with small stores packed right next to one another along the pavement. The lampposts were all lit up, and most of the windows were lined with white and gold Christmas tree lights. Glancing to her left, she saw in the windows of shops dressed up mannequins, fancy furniture, ancient looking books, guitars and other instruments, ball gowns, advertisements for Italian food…

"Stop the car!" Caroline exclaimed, then frowned. "Or…cart…thing," she changed as Klaus pulled the horses to a halt. Caroline was already jumping down from the carriage before Klaus even had the animals completely stopped.

"What are you after?" he called to her as he got down, himself. He noticed where she was heading and smiled. "I'll go get a tux, then?"

Caroline stopped in her tracks, which was right in a small puddle. She quickly jumped out of the shallow water and turned to him. "Wait, it's closed! And I have no money. What am I…Excuse me!?" she demanded to him as he continued walking away down the dark street.

"Just go in," Klaus said over his shoulder.

"Did you not just hear the problems I listed?" she questioned, putting her hands on her hips.

Klaus turned around, but continued backing away. "Trust me, love."

Caroline was about to argue again, but knew he wouldn't answer her any more than he already had. So she turned reluctantly and continued to walk slackly towards the closed store. She brought her hands up and cupped her eyes as she looked into the window, looking for sight of life. And there was. The lights were all on, and there were two women smiling to one another inside. Caroline frowned as she tried the door. It opened easily in her hands.

She stuck her head in and smiled hesitantly as the women as they looked over to her. "Oh, there she is!" one of them hissed to the other with a giant grin on her face.

Caroline frowned uncertainly, but managed to smile. "Hello," she said in a small voice, "are you open?"

The woman closest nodded happily. "For you, milady, yes!" She was an elderly looking woman that could have been the grandmother from any fairytale. Her gray hair was done up in a bun on top of her head and she had a dress on that, well, any fairytale grandmother would have been wearing.

Caroline slowly walked in, kinda scared, yet comfortable at the same time. "What do you mean for me?" she asked timidly. Somehow she managed to keep the smile on her face.

The other women leaned closer and whispered, "We were informed that you were coming, so we closed up shop to anyone that wasn't you." She was a middle aged woman that looked like the granny's daughter.

"I'm sorry," Caroline said just as quietly, fearing she might affect the atmosphere if she didn't mimic their volume. "How do you know how I am?"

"Well, you're the queen, of course!" the middle aged woman exclaimed, startling Caroline at the sudden normal voice again.

Caroline watched the women for a moment, translating everything in her mind. Klaus. He told them she was a queen or something. She smiled at them sweetly. "Just to make sure you've got it all right," she said slowly, making sure she didn't stumble over words, "I'm the queen of what?"

Slowly, they both got uncertain looks on their faces. Granny looked heartbroken with herself. "Oh, dear Lord," she said, bringing her hand up to her cheek. "I don't know! I just thought you were the most important woman on earth! Please forgive us for not knowing. We're merely peasants," she said, while bowing her head.

"Oh mi God!" Caroline exclaimed to herself while her stomach suddenly jumped in guilt. "No, no you're not at all!" she told the old woman. "No…" She smiled and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "It doesn't matter what I rule. Don't worry about me."

The middle aged woman frowned and stepped forward. "Well if we can offer you nothing, what did you come for?"

"Oh, right!" Caroline turned to look around the store for the first time. Fancy, incredible gowns hung on the walls and hangers everywhere. She smiled. "I need a dress." She looked back to the women. "An elegant one that would make the wisest, most calm man's heart skip a beat," she chuckled at the sentence before she finished.

"The king, yes, we know him," the middle aged woman nodded. "Lord Klaus."

"Loooord Klllaus…" Caroline repeated very slowly, trying not to laugh at Klaus' typical and ridiculous nature. "Yeah. Him."

Granny smiled. "He told us you were fond of the color blue."

Caroline dropped the corners of her lips and raised her eyebrows. "You've been told correctly!" she smiled, happy he'd prepared as much.

Granny held her hand up, motioning to the back of the store. "We've put together dresses in the back that we thought were best for a queen as magnificent as you."

Caroline took a step in the pointed direction. "Great," she said as she kinda bounced on her feet, leading the way. "Oh!" she said as she turned to walk sideways and speak to them. "You can, like, calm down with the whole 'magnificent' and' milady' and that kind of…crap. It makes me feel like I'm, I don't know, stuck up. And kinda that I'm a terrible per–Holy crap!" She stopped her sentence when she looked forward again and saw a room full of maybe a hundred gowns in front of her, each a different shade of blue. They varied from what looked like blue wedding dresses to tight dresses; ones with long veils to ones with no back at all.

Caroline smiled in pure delight. "We may be here for a while…"

.

Klaus stepped into the small diner he had ordered dinner at. No one was inside but the chef and his workers. Making his way to the back room, Klaus pulled his serious and dark side out a ways, just to get what he wanted. He opened the door that led to the kitchen in the back of the restaurant and looked around at everyone scurrying around. He caught site of the cook almost immediately since he was shouting orders at the others. Klaus watched him, knowing he would look over eventually.

And almost two seconds later, the fat man in charge did indeed look to his right to see Klaus standing there with his hands behind his back, raising his eyebrows at him. Instantly, the chef put his cooking utensils down and pushed through people to get to the 'king.' "My lord," he man said with a bow of the head. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" He sounded unsure of himself, and the words did not flow out of his mouth the way they did formal people.

Klaus looked around. "I came to reassure myself that all was going as planned. You are ahead of the ball, I hope…" he said in a voice that let the man know he had no patience for failure. The chef just nodded, seeming too scared or unsure or whatever to answer. Klaus nodded, sweeping the room with his eyes once again. "Very well. My queen and I will be here at nine. I want everything perfect by eight fifty-nine. Understood?" he asked as he turned and left, not waiting for an answer of any kind.

Klaus opened the doors and stepped back out into the night's air. Before the door behind him even shut, someone called to him. "Niklaus!" Turning to his right, Klaus saw his old friend; or, the closest thing to a friend Klaus had. Klaus started walking over to him with the smallest sign of a smile. Janson held his hand out. "Long time, brother."

Klaus took it and shook it firmly. "Nearly three hundred years."

"I was believed you were deceased," Janson said in a bit of an offended tone.

Klaus took his hand back. "You shouldn't make assumptions with me, Janson." He smiled.

Janson nodded. "I know. Something I should have listened to you about. You proved me incorrect enough times…"

Klaus looked to the shop next to them. "Shall we?" he asked, holding his hand out.

Janson smiled. "Ah yes." He turned and opened the door for Klaus. "We wouldn't want to be dressed like _that_ for your big night…" he joked.

Klaus walked passed him and into the heated tailor shop. "Enlighten me, wouldn't you, about how a man can go from the king of Spain to a tailor shop owner in the middle of the United States, the gloomiest country I've ever beheld."

Janson laughed and led Klaus further into the shop. "Long story short, I got tired of the glory. I needed to experience the 'rent' people always complained about." He opened a door behind the cashier counter and walked into the back for a moment. "And just to correct you, the United States truly isn't that bad."

Klaus shook his head at nothing because his friend wasn't in his sight. "I'm not going to even try to debate with you, you dogged mortal."

Janson came back in the room. "That's because you know I'm right. I'm always right." He walked around the counter and held up a covered tux on a hanger. "One of the perks about being part God."

Klaus unzipped the bag as he sighed. "Your great grandfather was touched by the Jesus, that doesn't make your family line Godly." He took a moment to study the uncovered tuxedo held on the hanger. He nodded in approval.

"But we both know I'm never wrong," Janson reminded. "I've proven _you_ incorrect enough times on that."

Klaus chuckled and shook his head as he zipped the bag back up. "Whatever suits you," he said to Janson.

Janson frowned. "You're not putting it on? Took me an entire hour to fix it correctly for you," he said like it had taken him years.

Klaus smiled. "My lady is looking over dresses. I predict I have virtually an hour before I need to fetch her."

Janson nodded his understanding and placed the clothing neatly over the counter. "Well, then. I take it that gives us plenty of time to catch up…"

.

Damon walked into his house slowly, wishing he didn't exist. He took his coat off as the door shut behind him. He looked ahead at the floor before him. The feelings of regret and hatred and depression he had been holding back suddenly took over. He dropped his jacket to the floor and threw his keys lazily ahead of him, not caring where they landed. The main part of his hatred was because of Elijah, the man that stole his Elena and then thought he could just show up at his house uninvited.

"What the hell do you want?" Damon demanded in a sharp tone as he spaced out at the floor.

He didn't look, but could sense Elijah's body come into view and stand still. "You were driving the car," he informed the Salvatore.

"If you came here to guilt ride me…" He looked up to Elijah's face. He narrowed his eyes. "I beat you to the chase."

Elijah took a step forward. "Oh, I'm sure you're feeling enough guilt, Damon. I came here to put your mind to rest."

"And would putting my mind to rest possibly include my heart?" Damon said, knowing what Elijah had come to do. Elijah didn't reply; he merely watched Damon. Damon took a deep breath and started walking into the house. "I recommend you don't," he said as he passed Elijah, making his way to his drink cabinet.

Elijah turned as Damon passed him, making sure to keep his eye on him. "Is that all you have to say to try and stop save your life?" he asked in an amused voice.

Damon was pouring himself a glass of the first bottle he laid his eyes on. He frowned and squinted his eyes in confusion. "Yes, because if you have the intelligence that you claim you have," he turned around with his drink, "you'd know I have every _intention_ of killing myself."

"Yet here you stand, helping yourself to alcohol while you wallow in self-pity," the Original pointed out.

Damon held his glass up and examined it, like he was making sure what Elijah said was true. "Yes," he hissed, bringing the glass back down quickly as if he remembered why he had it in the first place. "No way I can handle the night as I…well…" He took a drink.

"When you what, Salvatore?"

Damon hissed as he swallowed and then tilted his head to the side, considering his words. "Kill the person that lived through the car crash."

Elijah held Damon's eye contact as he became incensed that yet another being had survived but not his Elena. "There was another survivor?" he demanded in a calm voice.

Damon hummed his confirmation. "Your sweet sister paid the accident a visit and took her boyfriend. Left Elena to die."

Elijah felt hatred coursing through him. Rebekah had told him she would kill Katherine instead of Elena. She'd told him she understood his love, because she'd found a love of her own. "I promise, Elijah. I won't hurt you like that," she'd said with a smile.

"Who did she save?" he demanded.

Damon snorted. "Like I'd tell you. Think I'm really going to let you have the glory of killing him?" He turned around and brought his glass back up to his lips. "Keep dreaming."

Elijah flashed over to Damon, getting straight in his face. He didn't make contact, just came close and personal. "I suggest you tell me now before I force the information out of you."

Damon smirked at Elijah. "Like to see you try. I've got vervain in practically everything in this house. From my drinks to shampoo…" He took another drink as he raised his eyebrows at the livid Original. But then he frowned. "Actually…" He took his sweet time thinking out his plan as he kept his eyes intently on Elijah's. "You're a man of deals, Mikaelson, how about we make a deal?"

"Give me the information and I allow you to live, perhaps?"

Damon sneered at him. "I'll tell you who if you also take my curse," Damon said.

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Curse? And why would I do that?"

Damon looked off to the left, staring at something in certain. "Because I can see her."

"Whom?" Elijah demanded, not liking the constant unfinished statements.

Damon clenched his jaw shut as he stared at the target. "Elena."

.

Klaus walked into the small shop with his eyebrows raised. "Knock knock," he called.

Granny scrambled out of the back and smiled when she saw him, immediately followed by a bow. "Lord Klaus," she greeted. "Thank you so much for coming to us for Lady Caroline's dress!" she exclaimed in a truly grateful voice.

Klaus nodded to her. "No competition, Mrs…"

"Walkner," she answered with a smile.

Klaus took her hand and bowed down. "Mrs. Walkner." He kissed her hand and smiled at her as he stood up. He respected elderly people that showed appreciation to the young (or those who looked young).

The woman looked like she was absolutely thrilled. "Oh! Em, Lady Caroline is in the back changing. Would you like me to bring her out?"

Klaus folded his hands behind his back. "No, no that won't be necessary, just point me in the right direction."

Granny looked confused for a moment, then nodded with a forced smile and turned to walk back to the area she'd come from. Klaus followed, but kept a bit of distance between them. "Lady Caroline?"

"What did I tell you?" Caroline's voice came ringing through the shop loud and clear.

Granny brought her hand to her mouth for a second. "Forgive me. Care, your husband is here to see you," she informed her.

Klaus could practically hear Caroline frown. "Husband?" she repeated in an offended tone. "Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. I'll be out in five minutes," she informed Granny and Klaus.

Granny turned back to Klaus with a bit of an uncertain look on her face, but Klaus stopped her before she spoke. He held his hand out reassuringly and continued forward into the back. As Klaus walked into the back room he observed the random fabrics of blue and some pink thrown across the floor. He could hear Caroline's voice muttering to another woman as he got closer to a curtained off section of the sewing room. Klaus came right up to the outside of the small changing corner and slowly brought his hand up to the curtain between him and Caroline. Ever so slowly, Klaus moved the curtain aside and he could see his Lady observing herself in a body mirror. Klaus' mouth remained open as he looked at the remarkable dress hanging from her sides and hugging her hips.

It was strapless, and the body seemed to be made of pieces that fell loose from wherever they were sewn into the top of the dress. Caroline looked up to examine her hair, but her eyes caught Klaus' in the mirror and she spun around. "Klaus!" she snapped. "I said I was going to come out there!" she hissed.

Klaus stepped into the small room, looking up at her as she was standing on a riser. "And I thought meeting you in here would make your job a little less tiring," he smiled up at her.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "I still could have been changing."

"Well, that was a risk I was willing to take." He turned to the other woman in the room. "You may leave," he excused her. She did as told and quickly scurried out of the room, leaving the two royals to their disputes.

Caroline leaned down and shoved his shoulder. "You're a pervert, you know that?"

Klaus reached up and took hold of her waist. He lifted her up and swung her down off the stand, fluffing her dress as she gracefully landed on her feet, once again smaller than him. "And you know how to pick an excellent dress."

Caroline smiled slowly and looked down at her body. She swayed gently. "It is really sweet, isn't it?" She bit her lip and looked up to him. She stroked his chest. "You're all done up, too, I see," she finally observed.

"Dressed for the occasion," he reminded.

Caroline looked up at him in an admiring way. "So where to, Lord Niklaus?"

"Klaus," he corrected. "Niklaus is the name my father gave me."

Caroline pursed her lips and nodded once. "Alright then, _Klaus_. Where to?" she asked again.

Klaus took her hand and pulled her away, not intending on answering her, and not intending on speaking until they reached their destination.

"Are we getting back on the horse thing?" Caroline asked from behind him.

Klaus sighed. "The carriage, yes. We are."

Caroline smirked as they walked past a shelf of hats. She picked up the one on top as Klaus pulled her out of the store. It was a rounded cap that people way back when would wear. Completely round with a rim sticking out all the way around. And even a feather to stick out of the top. A blue feather, matching his eyes. Perfect.

.

"You can see Elena?" Elijah asked, completely desperate and intrigued now.

Damon was still staring at something, or someone, to his side. "Yes." He took a moment and look at her in regret. "I can't hear here, converse with her, talk to her, feel her…" He raked her full body with his eyes before returning to his face. "But she's there…"

Elijah looked in hopes of seeing her with Damon, but he saw nothing. "Where is she?"

Damon looked back to Elijah. "Dead. She's not here." He downed the rest of his drink. "But she's there everywhere I look. Everything I do, she's watching it."

"Why would you give that up? She's an angel to you right now."

Damon sneered at Elijah. "No she's not. She's just an image. My Elena is dead. Why the hell would I want a curse that lets me see her for eternity?" he demanded in a hiss.

Elijah shook his head at Damon. "You fool. This isn't a curse, this is a gift!"

Damon laughed evilly. "Yeah, alright, you keep thinking that." He turned and walked back to his liquor.

"Why would she be here, Salvatore, if it wasn't a way to get her back on earth?"

"Why would she want to be back on earth?" Damon barked. "She's in heaven now. I don't think lip locking with a demon would really compare to her state of paradise right now."

Elijah put his hands in his pockets. "She would not be contacting you if she did not wish to end something here on earth."

Damon lit his eyes up for a moment. "I'm sure you're on to something, 'Lijah," he said sarcastically. "So how about you agree to take my curse, and I'll tell you who else survived the crash. Hm?" he asked as he turned around with a fresh cup of alcohol.

Elijah held his hand out. "Gladly," he accepted the offer. Damon inclined his head to the side and walked forward until he was face to face with his enemy. He looked to the side, probably watching Elena once more before he let her go. Looking back to Elijah, he raised his right hand and took Elijah's, shaking it firmly.

Damon leaned closer, like it was a secret. "Matt Donavan."

Elijah nodded his head. "Thank you, Damon."

Damon shook his head. "No. Thank you…"

Something flashed in the corner of Elijah's eye, and he looked up sharply. Slowly, there was a human body forming in his vision. Elena's body. She stood with a terrified look on her face, staring straight into Elijah's soul. He felt her ice cold hand gripping his heart, even from across the room. She was trapped. She hadn't come back to be set free. She'd been captured and stored back here in Damon's memory…now his. Elijah closed his eyes and looked down, hoping to avoid the image of her. Had he known she'd looked like this, he would have just killed Damon. He felt like she was dead because of him. Looking at her was like watching her die all over again.

.

Klaus had only moved the horse and buggy maybe down the block to their next destination. Caroline didn't even have the chance to add her accessory to Klaus' wardrobe. But she was fine with it as she looked forward and saw what looked like the platform of a marry-go-round. The horses and center core had been removed; so it was essentially a spinning circle on the ground. "What is this?" Caroline asked as Klaus climbed down.

She watched as he started to walk around to her side, so that gave her time to stuff the hat under the bench so he wouldn't notice. When he got to her side she was already leaning down, waiting for him to help her. Klaus reached up and lifted her, spinning her down so when she landed, he was between her and the carriage. "I had the town take down one of their fair rides and turn it into a rotating platform," he smirked at her.

She frowned. "Why?" she dragged out.

He took her hand and turned towards the giant platform. "Because we need to dance. That's our thing, isn't it? Dancing?" he asked as he walked them closer.

As they approached, someone somewhere flicked a switch and the entire 1/3 of the marry-go-round lit up with tons of lights on the rim and even strung from telephone wires above them. Music also started. Slow music.

Klaus led them onto the big stand and spun her around before wrapping his right arm around her. The entire movement was quick, and when he pulled her to him, she hit him with a bit of a force. She smiled at him. He swayed them gently as they very slowly became in sync with the beat of the far off music.

They watched one another for the longest time, until Caroline felt like words needed to be spoken. "How did you do all of this?" she asked, looking around them at all the lights. It looked almost like a summertime Christmas. And the weather was nice.

"I compelled the town," he said simply.

"Yeah? How did that work? You somehow broadcast yourself?" she asked, being serious.

Klaus frowned at her. "No. That's impossible. No, I compelled the mayor and every store owner," he explained.

Caroline gave him the look she always did when he confused her, slightly knitting her eyebrows together above her wide eyes. "That's like five hundred people, Klaus," she informed him.

He nodded at her. "Indeed," he agreed.

Caroline slowly smiled admiringly at him. He'd taken his afternoon to compel (more or less) half a thousand people and prepared an entire city to practically put on their best outfits for her, "The Queen." And adding onto that, he hadn't known if she would forgive him, so he risked it all. She slowly leaned forward and lightly pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes and smiling. "Thank you," she whispered to him with her eyes still shut.

Klaus leaned down closer to her. She could feel his faint breath on her ear. "We have dinner, then a show – not what you're thinking-, followed by the ride of your life," he finally answered what they were doing that night.


	19. The Stars

**I suck at uploading on a regular basis, you all know that by now. haha! But I am trying, so hopefully this will be done by the end of January. Thank you all for the glorious reviews and number of follows/favs! I love you all so much! Hope you like this. I apologize for any grammatical mistakes - I wanted to post it too badly that I didn't run through it for blips. Sorry :/**

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**Oh! B.T.W. I will praise anyone who makes me a picture for this story! I absolutely _suck_ at making covers or any sort of picture. I'd give you credit and love you and never forget you - ever! Okay, now have fun reading X)**

* * *

><p>They danced for maybe ten more minutes, holding one another closely. That was until Klaus heard the clock tower start to chime. To Klaus, that meant they had a dinner to get to, but to Caroline, it just added to the fairytale feeling of the entire evening. She didn't have time to bask in the chimes of the tower, however, because Klaus directed her back to the carriage. He turned them around and retraced the route they'd gone to get to the 'dance floor.'<p>

"Where to now?" Caroline asked as she moved closer to him on the bench of the carriage.

"Dinner," he answered. "Did I not mention that before?"

Caroline moaned her approval. "Mmm…food," she murmured to herself. "God, I haven't eaten since yesterday!" she said, only then having realized it.

"Well then, you'll absolutely love how much I've prepared for us."

.

"How do I help you?" Elijah asked Elena's ghost yet again. Her face remained fear stricken, not registering his words. He'd left Damon Salvatore alive and returned to his own home, constantly seeing his lover in the corner of his eye. He couldn't count the number of times he'd tried to touch her, tried to speak to her… It was like his memory was just projecting her image. He was slowly starting to realize just what Salvatore had meant by it being a curse.

He stood in his room, his hand held out to her, but she never took it. "Speak to me!" he said loudly but still holding onto the pleading in his voice. "I cannot help you if you don't…"

Her eyes were wide with fear and her mouth was parted. She was in the stage of dying when you feel your life just slip from you. She'd felt dread, then complete horror, and just as she'd been about to scream, everything went black, and that had been the end of her. That was the stage he was granted the ability to watch her suffer though. He could feel her fear radiating off of her non-existent presence. He wished for nothing more than to be able to help her, but he couldn't. He couldn't even have a conversation with her.

Because she was dead. Because the town had just allowed her to die.

Rage coursed through Elijah again, the same rage he'd been living in for the past day. He felt vengeance for his love. Vengeance that could only be fixed for him by killing everyone who she died for. Starting with the one Rebekah had saved in Elena's place.

.

"It smells amazing in here," Caroline whispered across the table at Klaus with a smile on her face, truly thrilled for the entire evening.

Klaus snapped his cloth napkin in the air, opening it from its delicately folded previous state. He admired Caroline as she looked around the room in excitement. "You like Italian, I presume," Klaus said, hearing the chef giving orders from the other side of the empty restaurant.

Caroline frowned at Klaus. "That's like pizza, right?" she chuckled.

Klaus scoffed. "Please, darling, give me credit for my formality."

Caroline cocked one eyebrow down at him. "I ain't giving you squat until you stop keeping secrets from me," she said with a playful smile on her face.

Klaus leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and folding his fingers together. "Name what you wish to know," he intrigued her.

Caroline also leaned forward, whispering to make the conversation just that much livelier. "Well for one, what does the so-called headring do?" she questioned, bringing up his previous gift to her.

Klaus smirked at her. "I'm afraid I don't know. It does different things to different people."

"And what did it do to you?" she whispered lightly.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at her. "You truly believe I would put such a thing on my head? I am a man, sweetheart."

"That doesn't stop you from wearing necklaces," she pointed out.

"Tokens," he corrected, "from my journeys around the world."

Caroline tilted her head at him as if she couldn't believe he would make something like that up. "They hang from your neck and sparkle. You cannot play the Man Card with me," she told him, sitting back and looking up as she saw a waiter approaching the table.

"The Man Card?" Klaus repeated, trying not to laugh at her. Caroline kept her eyes on the waiter that was coming closer, but she did kick Klaus in the leg. Well, she tried to.

Klaus had sensed what she was about to do, and opened his legs quickly. Her foot kept going until it hit absolutely nothing but air. She sneered at her miss and brought her foot back down. But Klaus closed his legs again and caught her ankle between his. Caroline tensed up and shot him a shocked look.

She didn't try to thrash her leg from his because the men stopped next to the table, delicately placing a tray of salad down in front of them. Caroline smiled sweetly at them, and Klaus watched their movements with an unchanging smirk on his face that was originally from Caroline, not them. As they walked away, Caroline's smile faded and she pursed her lips while ripping her foot from his. He smirked harder and sat up straight in his seat.

Caroline looked at the food. "Salad? Really?"

"Have you ever had it with Italian dressing?" he questioned.

"What _is_ that?"

Klaus proceeded to inform her of how she would love Italy. The ruins, the ways, the people, the _food._ Caroline wasn't one for traveling, but she tried her best to act interested. Klaus knew she wasn't that invested in the conversation, so the topic ended quickly. "So if I were to invite you to go around the world with me, would you?" Klaus questioned.

Caroline inhaled slowly, not knowing how to answer that question. He wasn't supposed to have picked up on the noninterest in the first place. "Um…I don't know."

Klaus tilted his head to the side, not liking her hold back. "Caroline, would you go around the world with me if I offered you to this very moment?" he rephrased.

Caroline bit her lips together for a moment. "No, I wouldn't." She took another bite of her half gone salad. "Just because I don't like going places," she said with a full mouth. "It has nothing to do with you, I promise. I just…I've never liked going places."

"How would you know?" Klaus questioned her. "You've told me before that you have not been anywhere."

Caroline slowly nodded, agreeing with his statement and looking for a way out. "Yeah, well, judging by geography books…I wouldn't want to," she said pathetically.

"You're making your statement based on geography books you haven't looked at since the fifth grade?" he questioned with a frown.

Caroline raised her eyebrows at something behind him. "Oh look, more food!" she exclaimed, wiping her mouth on a cloth napkin and ending the conversation abruptly, earning a disapproving look from Klaus.

.

Caroline laughed and covered her mouth in case any food flew out. They'd been dining for nearly three quarters of an hour. She was glad that she and Klaus were out on that date. She was really starting to get to know him. Like, for instance, just during dinner she was learning that there was a truly funny side to him that she'd never seen before. The entire time they'd been sitting at the table, there had been maybe a total of just five minutes where they weren't smiling at one another.

When Caroline finally managed to swallow the food in her mouth, she chuckled and tossed her napkin onto her plate. "All finished, sweetheart?" Klaus checked, his face cooling down from having turned slightly red while laughing.

Caroline nodded. "I am way beyond finished. I feel like I'm going to explode."

Klaus snickered. "That is an unbelievable way to turn me on," he teased.

She pursed her smirking lips at him, trying to look offended. "Shut up," she exhaled through a laugh. "Are you done?" she asked as she inclined her head towards his plate.

He started to stand up as he nodded once. "Very." He walked over to the standing Caroline and buttoned his suit as he watched her dust her dress off. "I must say, for someone who is about to explode, you're looking absolutely striking," he said in a much different tone of voice from his joking-around one.

Caroline gave him a very flirtatious smirk as she hooked her arm into his. "Yeah, well you look bangable, yourself," she murmured.

Klaus took a few seconds to think about her statement as he walked them to the door of the restaurant. Finally, he gave up and frowned at her. "I'm what?"

Caroline looked at him with a shocked look on her face. "You don't know what banging is?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

Klaus opened the door for her and sighed. "If I'd have known, I wouldn't have asked," he pointed.

Caroline suddenly held her shoulders a little straighter and walked higher. "It means you look handsome," she told him as she placed a kiss on his cheek and walked on ahead of him with a smirk on her face.

Klaus let it go, knowing she was lying to him, but also knowing he wasn't getting the answer out of her. So, he'd have to get it a different way. Caroline was walking slowly towards the carriage, still feeling full of herself and not paying attention. So Klaus quickly flashed back into the restaurant and demanded a Smartphone out of one of the cooks. Three were thrust his way, and he took the closest and was outside right as Caroline turned around to face him again. She stopped in front of the carriage. "You said something about a show?" she reminded, clearly not noticing his actions at all. She didn't even notice him place the phone into his pocket and give her a casual look.

Klaus walked over to her and stood almost right over her shoulder. "Have you ever looked at the stars, love?" he asked quietly.

Caroline slowly smiled as memories came rushing to her of being a little girl lying in her back yard with Elena and Matt, watching the night sky. "Not for a long time…"

.

Elijah had Rebekah by the throat, holding her down into the forest's ground. "I'm not telling you where he is!" she yelled at him again. "Kill me if it will make you feel better! But you're going to have a hell of a time finding him," she wheezed out as his hand clenched on her throat.

"I don't intend on killing you, dear sister. I'm going to keep you wide away as I drain him of his life," he threatened.

"That's a bit hard to do when you don't know where he is," she pointed out, clawing at his arm.

"I know he'll come running when he finds out you're dead."

"You said you wouldn't kill me!" she cried.

Elijah nodded his head to the side. "There's been a change of plans," he said like it was a shame. He reached behind him to pick up the dagger he had dropped and held it above her chest, getting ready to kill the traitor.

But he stopped when he saw Elena's familiar legs appear right in front of him, standing above him and his sister. He looked up at her, just in time to see her eyes flicker down to Rebekah with horror. She could see her. Elena knew what he was doing. Elijah looked back down at his sister. Elena was watching him. He couldn't kill his sister while his love watched with that…that _look_ on her face that screamed 'monster' at him.

He brought his hand down and stood up from Rebekah, watching Elena with an angered look on his face. "Get up," he told his sister.

She slowly rose to her feet, glaring at her brother. If she could even call him a brother anymore. She'd never had him attack her like this. She was truly terrified on the inside.

"What are you going to do, then?" she questioned hesitantly.

Elijah was watching Elena's face. She definitely had looked at Rebekah, because she kept glancing back and forth between the two. She was still with him, at least a little bit. Elijah had to help her. He turned on his heel and walked off, seeing Elena had already appeared a long ways in front of him, just waiting for him to catch up so she could show up somewhere else like she always did when he got too close. "I'm going to fix things," he growled at Rebekah as he walked past her, leaving her and her precious Donavan alone for the time being.

.

Klaus had led them out of the city – a good half hour trip thanks to their slow transportation. They were now slowing down on a road extinct of cars and stopping in the middle of the road.

"Where are we going? We're nowhere near civilization," Caroline piped up as Klaus helped her down from the carriage. They were next to a lake with no one around. No houses or people anywhere.

"You can swim, can't you, darling?"

"What?" she exclaimed. "We're swimming? In this dress, are you insane–?"

"Caroline, take a deep breath. No one said anything about swimming."

"Yes you did–"

"I was just checking so that if you fall out of the boat, I can be sure you'll stay afloat."

Caroline grew excited at his words, ignoring the slight rudeness of them. "We're going on a boat? Did you get us a yacht or something? Like a cruise ship just to ourselves?" she asked excitedly.

Klaus motioned ahead of them at the lake. "Do you see a cruise ship, love?" he asked her, saying -carefully- that she should think about things before she jumps to make assumptions and gets her hopes up.

"No, I just see a speed boat..." She trailed off and turned go give him a dirty look. "Are you seriously telling me we are going to ride a speed boat around the lake?"

Klaus sighed. "Well, I guess not now. I'm sorry to disappoint," he said, sounding sincere. He turned and made to get back into their vehicle, but Caroline caught his arm.

"No, wait..." She exhaled her little fit and slowly smiled. "No, come on. Show me what you've got," she said, letting her hand slide down to his.

Klaus shook his head. "No, you're right. Quite an idiotic plan," he said as he turned to leave again.

Caroline scoffed, knowing he was just waiting for her to get on her knees and beg. She pulled his hand again, turning him away from the horse and boogie. He smirked as she walked him towards the boat, carefully walking around objects on the ground in her heels.

"So, why did you think of a boat?" she asked, trying to appear incredibly interested. She released his hand and walked on ahead of him. She may not like speedboats, but she loved docks. Something about standing on a platform just inches above water made her feel…somehow magical.

Klaus chuckled at her. "Believe it or not, I quite enjoy water," was all he answered.

Caroline walked down the dock and stood looking at the boat, unsure of how to get in.

Klaus came to the boat, watching Caroline's unsure face. He smiled. "Nervous, love?" he inquired. He swung one leg into the ship, managing to keep his balance as he held a hand out to Caroline. She hesitated for a few moments, not sure if she could take the hand of a man that had one foot on land and the other on a floating object. But when she looked up to Klaus' sparkling and excited eyes, she knew nothing was going to happen to her. She didn't know why she was so scared in the first place. She could swim. She just really didn't want to get wet… After a few moments, she carefully took his hand. He smiled brighter as he brought her a few steps closer and then moved his hands to her waist, lifting her up. He was elegant as he gracefully twisted himself to land her gently on her feet inside the boat. She instantly sat down in one of the back seats.

Klaus laughed at her fear and pulled himself completely into the boat. As Caroline held her arms to her chest, he started untying the robe holding the boat in place.

"Are we going anywhere specific?" she asked, not liking the silence.

"You'll see," he said, teasing her. He glanced back at her in time to see her roll her eyes and look away from him. He chuckled and moved into the driver's seat and turned the key, starting up the engine.

Caroline shivered as she felt the wind bite at her bare arms. "It is freezing!" she exclaimed, putting her arms around her even tighter.

Klaus looked back at her and just like he realized what she was talking about, he jumped up out of his seat and quickly took his outer jacket off for her. Of course, he didn't just hand it out to her, he came clear back to her and helped her put it around her shoulders, something Tyler never did. He always just handed it to her as he continued on with whatever he had been doing.

Klaus pulled back from her after he was sure his jacket was secure around her bare shoulders. He looked at her face with his brows raised in question. Caroline smiled to herself at his actions and nodded, letting him know she was fine. She worked on putting her arms through the sleeves, just because they were warm. When Klaus was sure that she was okay, he turned and went back to managing the boat, throwing her glances over his shoulder as he moved them away from the dock and headed out onto the water slowly at first.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, raising his voice a bit to be heard over the engine of the boat.

"Yeah!" Caroline reassured him.

He looked back to make sure her face fit her words. And from what he could tell, she wasn't lying. She was looking off to the side, watching the scene as they flew past. It was dark out except for the stars glowing up the sky and reflecting on the water they sailed on.

They could see trees on the land beside them as they headed out to the lake. Everything was dark, yet there was enough light for them to see, with help from being a vampire.

Klaus couldn't help the admiring smile that slowly pulled at his lips. Her skin glowed; her hair flew back behind her like a scarf. She had a look in her eyes that made it clear she was amazed at the scene in front of her. She was definitely the most beautiful woman Klaus had ever seen. The feelings she was giving him by just sitting there were surreal. If there was ever a woman thought to be an angel, it was without a doubt his sweet Caroline. His Caroline.

Klaus turned back to look at what he was doing to find he'd looked at the perfect moment.

They were in the middle of the lake now, nothing around them but still water. Klaus slowed down the boat, feeling the wind in his face soften and come to a stop along with the boat.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked as Klaus clicked a few buttons to completely shut off the boat. "Did the boat stop working?" she asked, sounding frantic like it was the worst thing shed ever heard.

Klaus turned around and smiled as he crawled into the back seat with her. "We've arrived at our destination."

Caroline looked around like she'd missed something. "This is the middle of nowhere," she informed him in case he wasn't aware.

He was busy moving around her giant dress in order to sit down. He placed himself in the corner of the seat, placing his arm behind Caroline's place. "I told you we were going star gazing," he reminded.

Caroline's face slowly lit up. She must have completely forgotten about that. Her head instantly snapped back and her beaming face looked above them. Klaus watched her eyes light up as she noticed the trillion of stars overhead. He didn't bother looking at them; he'd seen them all before. But he'd never truly stared at Caroline's amazed face. An excited and stunned laugh escaped Caroline's lips as she studied the swirls of lights above her. She'd only seen pictures like this on Google, and they had been photo shopped and everything.

Klaus' eyes traced her rosy cheeks, her soft curls, her wide eyes that reflected the stars, her open, smiling lips, and her unbelievably smooth skin, begging for him to touch. The last time Klaus had admired a woman this intently was when he was human. His feelings hadn't been shown for nearly two thousand years. He hadn't missed it, to be perfectly honest, but now that he was finally feeling love again with Caroline, he hoped it would never end. It was such a change from the vengeance he always was overwhelmed with. Only she could change his entire mind and heart around.

"This is unbelievable," Caroline muttered, bringing Klaus back out of his thoughts, and reminding him that she was there.

Caroline still watched the swirling and twinkling lights, and Klaus moved his hand to touch her cheeks with the backs of his fingers. She looked down, bringing her face back down and slightly leaning into his hand. "You're so beautiful, Caroline…" he admired her. Caroline smiled at his sweetness, looking at the ground. She couldn't lie, she felt a tad nervous. She'd never been truly alone with him like this before. Sure, he'd taken her to that beautiful forest, but that was before she felt a want for him. Then she had just been fighting for Tyler, but now she was with _him_.

Klaus leaned up out of the corner of his seat and brought his face close to hers, moving his hand to under her chin. He lifted her face to look at his. His eyes were far away, as if he was completely lost in his own mind. He slowly smiled and chuckled. "I don't think you realize the things you do to me, love."

Caroline gave him a confused look, like she didn't understand him. "Why, though? Why me? I mean, I'm bossy, and difficult, and pushy, and snarky, and _way_ too much of a control freak…" she listed off as she looked away from him again, thinking. "You're practically a king. You could rule the world if you wanted to. So why are you amusing me by being fascinated with me?" she questioned him.

"I'm not trying to amuse you, darling," he murmured in her ear. "You're gorgeous, understanding, interesting, amazing, unpredictable… I could go on with reasons that I'm taken with you." His hand was trailing over her neck, gently brushing the roots of her hair at the back of her neck. Caroline took his free hand in hers, holding tightly onto the warmth. Klaus brushed his lips against her ear. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to take it the wrong way? The way I know you're going to see it as?"

Caroline frowned and looked at him. "What?" she asked cautiously.

Klaus pulled his head back so he could return her eye-contact. He didn't know if telling her was a good idea, but she had requested to know the truth earlier that evening. And it may make his admiration for her a little more believable… He sighed. "When I met you, I knew right away that I was going to have to fight for you. I didn't want you to be mine. I just wanted to prove to myself that I still controlled every being on this planet." He licked his lips, looking to the side. "Whenever I meet someone I know will have the willpower to tell me no, I'm immediately on a mission to take power over them. The last person I tried was Stefan. I succeeded, for a while."

Caroline frowned harder at him. "Wait, are you telling me that there are people you go out of your way to _control_?"

"Control really isn't the right word," he corrected, choosing his words carefully. He knew how upset she could get within two seconds. "Everyone is frightened of me. So when I meet someone who isn't…I feel like I'm not as amazing as I tell myself," he said, widening his eyes on "amazing." He looked down to the hand she was holding tightly. "I have never failed myself. Everyone has ended up fearing me."

He laughed at himself, shaking his head. He looked back up at her eyes. "But you, you've managed to hold your own against me."

"Wouldn't that have just pissed you off?" she asked, not getting how he was just okay with all he was telling her.

"I did!" he insisted. "I despised you. The thought of you going out and having a merry night with your friends while you should have been hiding in your basement made me want to rip someone's neck out," he admitted. Caroline raised her eyebrows, waiting for his point. He stopped his soft hiss his voice had gone into and looked at her softly. "Yet I still found myself drawing your remarkable features on paper after paper. I had countless dreams about you." He moved his hand to stoke her cheek again. The boat rocked gently on the quiet water. "But the thing that made me realize I was drawn towards you was when my favorite song played, and the only thing I could think about was your face." He chuckled, but Caroline could hear the annoyance behind his words.

"You know, Caroline," he said, his voice making it known he was changing the subject slightly. "I've lived a long, long life. I've been through just about everything there is…" Caroline's face drained of color as she got a dreaded feeling in her stomach while listening to him. "I really have had enough of everything. The world really had nothing to offer me, until yo–"

Caroline pulled her jacket closer around her, hating his words. "Klaus, can you not tell me this?" she interrupted him, trying to save herself from the moment when his words hit her where it hurt and she wouldn't be able to rip herself from him. "Can't we just leave things like this? Not go into the sappy, dramatic, emotional talk?" she asked quietly.

Klaus' fingers stopped on her cheek. "Sappy, dramatic, emotional talk?" he repeated. "What are you afraid this conversation is going to lead to?" he said with a bit of a twinge in his voice. His hand left her face and rested behind her again.

Caroline inhaled sharply, looking for words. "I've heard this like ten times before," she moaned. "First from my dad. Then when my grandpa died. After that it was random friends that hate me now." She exhaled a humorless laugh. "And the last person that did it was my dad, _again._" She took her hands from his and turned forward, no longer facing him.

Klaus tilted his head at her, not understanding her words. She was thinking something completely off track. "Well, to make sure I don't say it like any of them, how did theirs go?" he asked, wanting to know what she was referring to.

Caroline closed her eyes in what looked like terrible reminiscence. She shook her head as she remembered her father's words. "'I've had a good go, baby girl. Just remember that you mean the world to me.' Blah blah blah," she said, opening her eyes and looking back up at the stars. "Don't say it. Because I know right after you do, you're going to never see me again," she sighed, feeling incredibly depressed.

Klaus watched her with an interested and confused expression. "You don't know what I was going to say," he informed her.

"You said you were bored of this world. 'You've been just about everything,'" she mocked. "I know how it ends. If you're going to leave me, just save me the pity talk and _leave_," she instructed.

Klaus realized what she meant then. She thought he was going to tell her he was leaving. How she could possibly think that, he didn't know. He'd been having a great night with her, and now she's afraid he's just going to abandon her? What had she been through that she would just assume that? Klaus cleared his throat and unnoticeably moved closer to her. "How many times has this happened to you?"

Caroline closed her eyes yet again, moving her eyebrows to be her facial expression. "Well, when my dad left to live with his gay lover… When my grandpa died. When my boyfriend committed suicide… When Mindy, my best friend, decided I wasn't good enough for her. When my dad refused to become a vampire…"

Klaus took her hand in his and brought it to hold close to his face. "What makes you so sure that was where I was going with the conversation?" he breathed onto her knuckles, studying her sad face.

"Because everyone does," she snarled. "Because why the hell would you waste your time on me? Because I'm just a baby vampire that doesn't know what I'm doing. Because I'm mean to you, and you've probably had enough of me by now. Because–"

"I love you."

Caroline's eyes slowly flickered open. She registered his words. She snapped her head back down and looked at his calm face with her wide eyes. Klaus leaned closer to her. "That was where I was headed, sweetheart." He leaned closer still and moved his hand to her neck, pulling her towards him as he tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers. Caroline reacted immediately and quickly. Her hands flew to his collar and pulled him towards her. Her face looked pained as she tried to get closer, trailing her tongue across his. He loved her. She hadn't realized she'd been waiting to hear those words. And hearing them instead of where she thought he had been going… The relief and joy and post-panic she was feeling was enough to make her cry.

Suddenly she pulled back. Her hands rested on his neck, holding him in her hands. "You're not leaving, are you?" she double checked.

Klaus ran his hands down her head, stopping around her ears. "I just got you. Do you really think I'm leaving in the near thousand years?"

She smiled incredibly wide at his words. She felt herself start to choke up. Why, she didn't know. "Do you really love me?" she asked quietly.

Klaus sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. "Caroline…" he whispered. His eyes fell shut. She doubted so much. She could never just accept what he said. "I'm more in love with you than you could possibly imagine." He tilted his head forward and kissed her cheek, holding her head close to his.

Caroline's eyes shut tightly and she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling like she was going to cry. Klaus kissed her ear once more before removing his hands from her face and moving them around her, returning her embrace. "Why are you crying?"

She laughed at his words. "I don't know." She held him tighter, resting her head on his shoulder. "I guess I just didn't know how much I wanted to hear that," she sighed. She looked down, feeling relief tears fill her eyes now. She patted his back but still held him close. "This makes it official, right?" she asked. "Like, you're mine now? Completely?" One of her hands went up into his hair. She swallowed a new case of tears. "We're together all the way?"

Klaus leaned back into his seat, not letting his grip go as he pulled her onto him. She was quick to position her legs so she sat sideways on his lap. Klaus' arms wrapped almost completely around her as he breathed in her scent deeply. "I love you," was all he could mutter into her ear. He hadn't said those words his entire vampire life. And to be able to say them now and completely mean it, he felt like that's all he _could _say to her. "I love you."

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><p><strong>Ehh? Ehhhh?! Good? Bad? Fabulous? Absolutely shitty and a waste of your time? Let me know! <strong>


	20. The King of the Road

**Okay guys, this is where it all starts coming together. Well, actually, this is the end of the super romantic date and the BEGINNING of all of it coming together.**

**I just really have to thank everyone for the amazing responses to the last post! I was so happy! I only hope this one isn't too much of a "they're STILL on a damn date?" But I'll try to update every Monday now until this is done (which should be soon). Thank you so so so so SO much for staying with me thus far! I love you guys!**

**Special thanks to IgnitingFireworks for the lovely banner for the story. You can't see it perfectly, though :( I had it on tumblr for those who got here through that. But if you go to her page and follow the photobucket links and look for it, it really is amazing!**

**Thanks so much again! I hope you enjoy! **

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><p>"Caroline, I don't know why you're ignoring us, but it's enough. I understand if you lost your phone, but I know you, and there's no way in hell you went a complete day without finding some way to check your messages. I'm starting to think Klaus compelled you. Mystic Falls is falling to pieces and, unfortunately, your optimism is the only thing that can keep it from absolutely turning to dust. I know you're alive, I did a spell. So just stop ignoring us…" Bonnie sniffed into the phone, thinking about Elena. "Elena's funeral is tomorrow… Please don't miss it."<p>

.

"What about that one?" Caroline asked, pointing up at the sky. "The small cluster of stars… It almost looks like a moon exploded."

Klaus turned his head to where she was pointing, moving in such a way that his face pressed into the top of her head, allowing him to easily kiss her in between his words. "The Seven Sisters," he said before slowly kissing her head in thought. "More commonly known as Pleiades." Caroline's weight on him made him smile into her hair.

Caroline smiled softly at the collection of stars, tucking her hand into Klaus'. "I like it." The boat rocked ever so slightly on the water.

"So do I," Klaus agreed with her as he stroked her hair. He took a deep breath as he thought about his history. "Their names were Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope." He looked down the top of her face. "Merope is my favorite," he gave in his two cents.

"Any particular reason?" Caroline asked, knowing that he was itching to tell the story behind his opinion.

"Merope was the youngest and the most vulnerable. She is the one that shines the dimmest, because she married a mortal."

Caroline frowned and looked up at him. "And that makes you like her, how?"

Klaus smiled up at the stars. "She gave up immortality for a man on earth." Caroline looked back up at the stars with a smile of her own on her face, loving Klaus' romantic side. "It just reminds me that, so far, I've done better than a god," he finished.

Caroline scoffed and hit him on the chest. Klaus frowned and questioned her. "I thought you were going to say something incredibly romantic!" she said, not showing disappointment as much as annoyance that she let her hopes up.

Klaus exhaled slowly and pointed off ahead of them, almost directly above the tree tops. "Do you see those three dots right in a row? With a star straight above and one a little off to the right?"

Caroline narrowed her eyes as she followed his finger. "Yeah."

"That would be Orion. The three stars make up his belt and the two above are the tips of his bow and arrow," he explained.

Caroline frowned. "Is he shooting the girls?" she asked, seeing his arrow point straight at them.

"No, he's pursuing them."

Caroline cocked an eyebrow. "What kind of pursuing?"

"Many think he's hunting them, but he's really trying to win them over. His obvious attraction to them is what planted them all in the sky in the first place." Klaus thought back to when the story was first told to him. He'd found the entire thing just a load of bullocks. But as his life went on, the Greek mythologies grew on him, and he really did enjoy thinking about such things.

Caroline was trying to envision a handsome man seeking out the beautiful sisters. In her eyes, Merope was curious and carefree, standing in the front of the group of girls and making herself known to Orion.

"Orion is…well I guess you could say my role model," Klaus said, watching the three stars twinkle.

Caroline couldn't help herself – she started to laugh. "You? You have a role model?" she repeated, glancing up at him with a _seriously?_ look on her face.

Klaus shook his head at her, still watching the sky. "Mock if you must, but there has to be something to keep one going for all these years."

That made Caroline stop and think. She'd never really considered needing something to live for. But, after over a thousand years, she guessed you might grow tired and bored. She frowned, looking at their entwined fingers, pale in the moonlight. His daylight ring was on his ring finger, and she had the red stone he'd given her on her own. Caroline wasn't living for anything at the moment. Was she supposed to be? She looked at his fingers and his skin, imagining them to be the rotted, bony, dead form they should have been if it weren't for his immortality.

"What's kept you going?" she asked in a faint voice, lost in thought.

Klaus looked around at the stars, wondering for the answer. "Revenge?" he tried. "Up until a year ago, killing my parents was all I lived for…"

That should have struck a bad cord in Caroline like it would have four months ago. But it didn't do anything. She somehow completely understood what he was saying. She didn't feel frightened or nervous or changed about his answer. It was just…right. "You've made it another year, though. So what's the secret behind those three-hundred and sixty-five days?"

He looked down at her face, inwardly chuckling. "I'm assuming you wouldn't take 'you' for an answer."

Caroline chuckled and shook her head. "No. I wouldn't. Romantic lines can only go so far before they become cheesy. There's absolutely no way _I _was what you were living for."

Klaus nodded to himself, noting her stubbornness. "Alright, love. But then acknowledge that I cannot give you a different answer without it being a lie." He moved around, bringing her closer to him as he thought about the recent past of her hating him. But now she was worried that he was leaving, or that they weren't going to be 'completely' together. She had him wrapped around her finger and he'd _finally_ left a mark.

Caroline snuggled into his chest, pulling his jacket further around her shoulders and playing with his tie. "So what now?" she asked.

"_Now_ we finish the night without thinking about tomorrow," he plotted out. "And we'll continue to do so until we are back in Mystic Falls."

Caroline felt a dreadful feeling in her stomach at his words. Mystic Falls. She had a life she kept forgetting about. She had Bonnie and Elena and Stefan and Matt to get back to. They didn't know where she was. Only Bonnie knew who she was with, and she could possibly be wondering if he killed her by now.

But as of right now, she was on a boat in the middle of a lake, in the moonlight, with Klaus, alone. They were kind of cut off from the world. And she was completely comfortable with it. She looked up at his face, only to see he'd been watching her. She smiled. Even now, he had a concerned look on his face for her, like he was worried she'd up and leave him. But she knew that wouldn't happen. It would have to take a huge and shocking sentence from him to possibly drive her away.

And that was exactly what Klaus was thinking about. He didn't want to think about tomorrow or the days to come because he knew that returning to Mystic Falls would be in the agenda sooner or later. And the second they returned, they would be met with questions and demands and, eventually, Tyler. Klaus honestly had no idea how Caroline would react to that _small_ bit of information he'd just happened to forget to mention before. Maybe she would be thrilled because that would mean Klaus was the good guy for not torturing Tyler.

But she could also think that he had completely lied to her.

Caroline was the one person on earth Klaus couldn't completely read, and that was what attracted him to her. But he had no idea what to expect. What to brace himself for. What to get ready to mend…

Caroline smiled at him. "I'm glad you're here," she whispered. "I truly am happy that I'm with you."

Klaus smiled, although there was sorrow behind it. Sorrow Caroline didn't see. She leaned up and kissed him, holding his face her hand as she sighed against him. Klaus' mind stopped running as he felt her against him. He stopped worrying, stopped imagining the future, and started dwelling in the fact that he was with his sweet Caroline after an entire year of waiting.

.

"I don't understand what you're saying," Bonnie said in fear as she held onto the table in front of her for support.

Elijah stared daggers into her. "How many times must I explain this in order for it to make sense to your immature mind?"

Bonnie licked her bottom lip. She was the most uncomfortable she'd been for the longest time. "Elena's dead. What you're telling me is that I can bring her back?"

"If you do it correctly." But his words were only a hypothesis. He didn't know if Elena could come back. He didn't even know if it was truly Elena he was seeing. It could have just been her memory. He could only hope as of right now, and he was going to hope that he made himself seem so convincing that the Bennet witch in front of him had no choice but to believe him.

Bonnie sighed, translating the situation in her mind. "Okay, so what am I supposed to do?"

Elijah walked around the room, admiring the ancient object scattered on shelves. "That's for you to figure out. I can only tell you when you've succeeded."

Bonnie stared at him like he was crazy. "I have no idea what to do, let alone where to begin!" she exclaimed.

Elijah stopped to look at her with his overly calm face. "Well then I suggest you give it your best guess and just pick up book. For if you don't," he said deeply, "I'll be sure that your giving up is the last thing you ever do."

.

Klaus tied the speedboat back up to the dock. Caroline stood behind him as he pulled himself onto the platform and turned to give her a hand. With dress difficulties, she managed to stumble up next to him, laughing to save herself from embarrassment. Klaus smiled at her and took her hand, intending to lead them away, but she stopped him. "Wait. This is the perfect scene!" she exclaimed.

Klaus turned back to her with a frown. "For what?"

Before she even explained her thoughts, she wrapped an arm around his neck and stood sideways to him. "Pick me up!" she urged.

Klaus stared at her like he was expecting a 'please.' "I'm sorry?"

Caroline slumped her shoulders in exhaustion. "This is the perfect scene, Klaus! You pick me up and romantically carry me away with the ocean behind us and the wind blowing my dress everywhere…"

"For one, darling, that's not the ocean," he pointed out, starting to smile at her as she glared at his correction. "And what would be the point? You're not on film or anything."

Caroline dropped her pouty act, realizing quickly it wasn't getting her anywhere. So, instead, she smirked adoringly at him and put both hands around his neck. "Klaus…" she said softly. "Please? For me?"

Klaus watched her with his eyes narrowed, knowing what she was doing. But as she started to bat her eyelashes at him, he rolled his eyes and dipped his arm down to scoop up her legs. Caroline laughed as he pulled her up, loving that she'd won. But Klaus was quick to set her straight. "Just know," he said while starting to walk towards land, "I'm only doing this because I know you wouldn't stop begging. The seduction had nothing to do with it."

Caroline nodded. "Uh huh. I'm sure…" She looked over his shoulder at the end of the dock as it slowly got further and further away. She smiled. The last time she'd watched a scene descend from her vision was when she'd been in the exact situation with Klaus not very long ago. Except she was in a blue dress now, not read. And they were surrounded by water, not trees. And she was _with_ him, not "with" him.

Caroline covered her mouth with his shoulder as she laughed. She laughed because she had never in a million years seen herself with Klaus – the baddest immortal known in existence. The one being that could destroy a country in less than a week if he wanted. The monster responsible for nightmares. The man that could never be killed.

And she was wearing his jacket.

.

Caroline frowned from next to Klaus on the carriage. "Where are we headed?" she asked hesitantly.

Klaus had a look on his face that made it obvious he was on a mission. "I'll warn you now that it will be best if you relax and just enjoy what is about to happen," he told her while keeping his eyes on the horses he was directing. He turned the carriage onto a road speckled with few cars. He clicked at the horses and prompted them with the reigns, putting them into a slightly faster rate.

Caroline bit her bottom lip as she stared in worry at the road ahead of them. A red Yaris passed them, a confused driver frowning in their direction. "What are you doing?" Caroline asked Klaus again. But he merely smirked and kept going, moving the horses along even faster. Caroline watched the red car until she noticed it was on the side lane heading towards the interstate. That was when she realized where Klaus was headed.

"Klaus!" Caroline yelled at him, leaning back in the seat of the horse drawn carriage. "You're going to kill us!"

Klaus frowned in mock annoyance and continued on his way. "What did I just tell you?" he asked, turning to look at her.

Caroline pulled a sarcastic face on. "I'm sorry, honey. I'll try to enjoy this time as I get creamed by car after car."

Klaus rolled his eyes and turned back to the road. They were heading for the bend coming up that led to a busy interstate – his destination. "The cart is enchanted by my best witches. Nothing can touch it."

Caroline yipped in surprise as a sudden car horn sounded behind them. She spun around to look into the headlights that were right on their… "bumper." "Yeah, well you'll forgive me if I don't trust that right now," she said in a loud voice, getting scared.

Klaus looked at her with a laugh. Her hair and half her body glowed from the lights of the car behind them. But he couldn't help laugh at the scared look on her face. He flicked the reigns, speeding them up. Now the wind in their faces was picking up. "Do I need to compel you to enjoy this night?" he warned her in question.

Caroline took a deep breath. She was with Klaus, so nothing was going to happen to her. She was the safest girl in the world at the moment. She started to relax. This was slightly amazing… She was heading for an interstate being led by four horses. If she didn't calm down and have the time of her life right now, she would regret it forever more. So she sucked in all the fear and just buried it for the time being. Now, she felt the fright slowly being replaced with excitement. And as she opened her eyes (metaphorically) she registered all the lights of the highway to her side that were soon going to be all around her.

"Promise I won't get hurt?" she said loudly over the growing sound of cars on asphalt. She looked up at Klaus as he started to smile.

He turned to her with a grin on his face. "I promise," he said in his normal voice, which was almost like a whisper in that atmosphere.

They both looked away from one another towards the ridiculousness ahead of them. They were close enough now that the wind from the rushing cars was twirling Caroline's hair in all directions. Her dress was even starting to sway around her feet. The horses were at a full run now, the cart slightly bouncing on the smooth road. They were going nearly half the speed of the cars on the true ride, but that didn't stop Klaus.

There was a car behind them honking angrily. But Klaus paid no mind as he let the horses guide themselves onto the busy thruway, blending in with the other cars.

Alright, no, they weren't blending in too well, but the horses were surprisingly okay with the screeching tires and honks blasting all around them.

Caroline laughed as the lane they pulled into had to completely slow down and wait for them. After nearly ten seconds, the car behind them got fed up and suddenly lunged forward. Caroline saw it out of the corner or her eye and accidentally let a quick scream out of her mouth as she spun around with wide eyes to watch the car suddenly _stop_ before it touched them. Caroline exhaled her relief. "You weren't kidding," she sighed.

"Of course I wasn't kidding, love."

Caroline exhaled another blow of laughter, and then suddenly remembered what she'd brought along. She smiled and reached under her seat, pulling up the bowler hat from earlier. She placed it on Klaus' head when he wasn't looking, and started laughing. Klaus frowned. "What is that?"

Caroline shrugged. "You needed a hat for this scene."

Klaus shook his head. "What is it with you and scenes?"

Caroline scoffed. "What is it with you and being overly original?"

"I _am_ an original, darling. Now," he took off the hat, "keep that off me."

Caroline took it from him with a frown. "What? No! It looked really good," she insisted. She put it back on him and he returned her a disapproving look. "For me?" she asked sweetly.

Klaus shook his head and turned away from her, leaving the hat on his head. Then his face smirked and he motioned to up ahead of them. Caroline followed his gaze to see, for the first time, a giant sign hanging above the road, lit up with a flashing orange light. The sign informed all drivers that the speed was now twenty miles per hour.

Almost instantly, the build-up of cars took place. Red lights were starting to take over taillights, and many cars up ahead were moving to take the exit. Caroline laughed. "Is this even legal?" she questioned over the honking.

Klaus smiled down at her. "It is when the king and queen are coming through."

Caroline beamed and looped her arm through his. "We're so epic," she said like it was a fact.

Before Klaus could reply, a car beside them rolled down their window and leaned out to yell at them. "What the hell are you doing, man!? This isn't a pony ride! Get the hell off the road, dick!"

Caroline expected Klaus to rip the young guy's neck out. But he must have seen what Caroline did, because he didn't move, just smirked. Behind the angry driver was a girl around his age – early twenties – who was staring at Klaus and Caroline like they were Prince Charming and Cinderella. If she even tried to hide the amazed and jealous look on her face, she did horribly.

Klaus leaned over, but it really didn't do anything but make him look more mature. "If I'm such a dick, then why is the lovely woman beside you staring at us like she's never before seen anything romantic in her life?" he inquired sweetly.

The woman clearly blushed bashfully at his words, and the driver just became even more furious. "Get that thing off the effing highway!"

"Interstate," the girl behind him corrected.

Klaus knew where he words would lead her, so he quickly talked over her. "Simply the fact that you cannot say the actual curse to me just proves that you truly have no place to instruct," he said matter-of-factly, "child."

The boy in the car glared daggers into Klaus and started to press on his gas. "Screw you!" he sneered.

Caroline leaned around Klaus and gave the guy a smug smirk. Instantly, she knew the kid hadn't seen her, and was immediately shocked by what she looked like. "I'm working on it," she replied to him.

Klaus held the guy's eye-contact, daring him to say anything further. And he didn't. He just moved past them, slipping right in front of them on the road and driving away.

Klaus looked back to Caroline with a smirk on his face. She noticed and straightaway regretted saying anything. "What?"

"You're working on it?" he repeated.

Caroline rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder. "Come back down to earth; don't let your ego take you too far up."

Klaus looked completely satisfied with himself as he moved the reigns onto her lap. "Drive for a moment, would you, darling?"

"What!? I don't know how to–" But Klaus wasn't taking are-you-insane-I'm-going-to-end-up-killing-us-I-don't-know-how for an answer. He dropped the reigns in her lap and reached into his pocket, getting out the iPhone he'd taken nearly two hours ago. Caroline held onto the leash in her hands with all she had and stared at him in horror. "What the hell are you doing?"

Klaus held the iPhone in front of him as he raised his eyebrows and inhaled, getting ready to read what he found. "Bangable." Caroline instantly groaned in disbelief with him. "Sexually attractive. Said to someone you wish to bed." He then smirked and leaned closer to her. "Hip against hip action," he said like it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever heard.

Caroline felt herself blushing as she opened her mouth to defend herself. "Okay, that's enough," she said with tons of different emotions behind her words. Embarrassment, shock, amusement, laughter, disbelief. All of it was written all over her face.

Klaus laughed at her and put the phone away. "Sounds like someone's not saying as much as they're feeling."

Caroline threw the reigns at him. "You're an ass," she accused.

Klaus just continued to chuckle at her, his huge smile plastered to his face.

Caroline elbowed him in the chest. "Stop smiling at me like that!" she complained, trying not to laugh. She needed to play the hurt card, just to get his reaction. "You're being a jerk," she said, crossing her arms.

Klaus tilted his head towards her, giving her his puppy dog eyes. "I love you," he reminded.

And then she cracked.

Him saying those words again just made it seem like she was hearing them for the first time again. Her pout vanished and she couldn't help the almost sad smile on her face. This obviously wasn't what Klaus had been expecting, because when she leaned into kiss him, he didn't react right away. She kissed him from a few seconds before moving her lips to his cheek and hugging his neck.

"Is this going to happen every time I say those words?" he asked, holding the reigns with one hand and wrapping the other around her. "Because then you'll be hearing them more and more."

Caroline pulled back. "Okay, sorry. I didn't mean to replay what happened last time," she apologized. She looked ahead of them at the road, watching the white dashes beside them quickly come and go. She suddenly smiled brightly. "I just…I never thought about us like _that_. The thought of love with you never really hit me until today," she admitted.

Klaus watched her, incredibly relieved that she was happy with the new word to their dictionary instead of being nervous and shut out away from him. "And how do you feel about it?"

Caroline laughed. "I can't stop kissing you. How do you think I feel about it?"

"I don't know," he disclosed.

Caroline looked at him with a genuinely happy smile on her face. "I'm thrilled, Klaus. Completely and utterly thrilled."

.

Bonnie looked at herself in the mirror. Pain painted her features. Her lights were off, and she was seeing just by the light of the rising sun through her window. She tried to smooth down her black skirt, but only managed to keep it looking perfect for a second before it went right back into its wrinkly appearance. She didn't need to be up for another three hours, but she hadn't even fallen asleep last night. She couldn't. Her mind was wrapped around Elena, and Elijah, and Caroline, and almost everything she thought she could have done to foresee Elena's death. But it was all too late now. All she could do was pray to the God she had partially forgotten about that he would give Elena back.

An hour later, there was a knock on Bonnie's door. She was in the kitchen, so getting to the front door wasn't too much for her weak legs. She slowly opened it, still feeling groggy. Jeremy stood in her doorway, wearing his father's suit he'd shown her when they'd been together.

"Did you sleep?" he asked quietly, with a raspy voice.

Bonnie shook her head just once, getting her point across. She looked down at the ground. She'd lost her best friend, and yes, it was awful, but she was sure it couldn't compare to losing your sister. The only family you had left on this earth.

Bonnie inhaled deeply and looked back up at him. "You're up early. The funeral isn't for another two hours," she informed him.

"I didn't sleep either."

Bonnie nodded, realizing that he was practically at the exact same emotional stage she was at. The stage of breaking down completely.

Jeremy saw Bonnie's face start to crack. She'd been able to keep it under control – pretending that none of it was actually happening. But because Jeremy was there, it just confirmed that they were on their way to bury Elena's body under the ground they walked on. Jeremy quickly walked forward and took Bonnie into a hug as she started to let the tears flow, not able to control herself any longer.

"Hey, it's okay. We'll be okay," he told her with a soft, solid tone. No wavers or cracks in his voice. But that was only because he'd wasted all his tears the night before when he'd found himself wondering around Elena's room. "We'll get through this," he told her, just like he'd told himself. "Elena's not in danger any more, Bonnie."

Bonnie tried to inhale. "That's because the danger got her, Jeremy!" She hit his shoulder. "She'd dead!" she cried out to him. Jeremy didn't mind the hitting. It made him feel pain instead of depression. He let her hit him until she couldn't keep her fists from shaking, and then he took her into another hug, trying to protect her from the world.

But there was no protection from death. Or the mourning of someone else's death. There was only the time they both had to live while they tried desperately to accept Elena's departure and move on.

But they wouldn't be able to move on for a long time. They were still in the middle of the hurricane, and the sunny sky was nowhere in sight.

.

Caroline blinked against the sun streaming in. She slowly sat up in bed and looked around. Klaus wasn't there. He wasn't in the apartment at all. She frowned and started to get out of bed, but then the door opened and Klaus walked in with bags in his hands.

"Where were you?" she asked with a deep, morning voice.

Klaus set his bags on a table and started going through them. "I just went out to grab a few things," he explained. He pulled out a few different foods. Then he turned and tossed her a blood bag. "You like O, don't you?"

Caroline frowned at the blood in disgust. "No. B positive," she corrected.

Klaus closed his eye and mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that. "B positive. Of course it is, love," he shook his head at her.

Caroline bit into the bag anyway, having not eaten since last night. She sighed into her hands as she felt the blood rush into her mouth. Klaus had his own bag as he turned around to her.

"Here." He tossed a plastic package of something small at her. "I got you a charger for your phone, too."

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><p><strong>Oh-shit-cliff-hanger, I know. I hate myself too. Review to let me know how you feel! <strong>


	21. The Lies

Bonnie stood relatively close to the hole in the ground as Elena's coffin was slowly lowered down below the surface. The preacher had said some fair wells, talked about Elena's life, and wished her a "pleasant death." The whole time, Bonnie had managed to keep it together. But as she watched the closed casket rest gently in the hole, all she could picture was Elena's dead face being buried.

This wasn't supposed to have ever happened. Elena was supposed to find a normal guy, have kids, get a job, grow old, live an actual life. But instead she was sucked into this sad fairy tale of Mystic Falls and die before she could even have the relief of being with the man she loved. She was dead now. Just because of some stupid game the Originals had tried to play. Elijah had filled her in on how it was his fault because his family had thought they could break the vampire's curse.

They were idiots. Over two thousand years of the same routine, and they thought they could just _change_ it all. And what would have happened if they had succeeded? They were vampires for a reason. They were demons. They couldn't just shut off their monstrosity.

But apparently they hadn't thought it all through. Because they'd done the ritual, and Elena was dead, but everything was still the same. Vampires still fed on blood, and they still killed everything in their path. The only difference was the population of Mystic Falls now. Klaus had gone away with Caroline. Rebekah had taken Matt. Elena was no longer breathing...

Bonnie looked up into the distance, ignoring the other mourning people around her. She didn't care about them right now. They all felt horrible, they were sorry for her loss, it was such a terrible happening. Blah blah blah. Not one of them cared about Elena. They just cared that someone had died near their homes.

Off away from the newly engraved gravestone of Elena Gilbert, Bonnie saw Elijah standing by a tree. He was in his usual tux, all black this time, and was watching the scene from quite a ways away. He would most likely pay his respects when the foolish humans were no longer hanging around to give him odd looks.

And he was most likely staring at Elena's ghost. He didn't have to stare at a coffin. He had the real deal in front of him. He just couldn't access her.

And that was Bonnie's job. Fix Elena's death, or die herself.

.

"Finally!" Caroline exclaimed as she took the charger from Klaus quickly and jumped off the bed, looking around for an outlet.

Klaus shook his head and sat down on the bed. "A thank you would be appreciated," he spoke up. Caroline was on her knees now, having torn the package open and was now trying to plug the charger into the wall beside the bed. "We've been gone for nearly three days, and you act as if you haven't been able to contact anyone for three years."

"Girl's gotta text," she mumbled. She plugged the phone into the wall while she watched the screen with wide eyes, praying that it would turn on. But, of course, because it had been out for so long, it was going to take a while. She slumped her shoulders in disappointment. "It's completely dead. Like, beyond the grave. It's in the deepest depth of hell right now," she exclaimed. She climbed onto the bed while she continued watching it, holding down the power button as if that would work.

Klaus had a corner of his blood bag in his mouth as he rolled over next to her, draping an arm around her waist as he laid down on the bed, happily sucking out the contents of the plastic bag. Caroline ignored him as he moved closer to her, trying to snuggle, but she was too upset with her electronic romances to pay back much affection.

Klaus closed his eyes and rested his head on her arm, watching the cellphone with her. She exhaled loudly and dropped her head back. "It's taking forever to start up again!" she complained.

Klaus rolled his eyes and stretched his head to look up at her. "Your definition of 'forever' is impeccable," he said sarcastically before kissing her neck and laying back on the headrest.

Caroline gave him a sassy smirk back. "You would know."

Klaus busied himself with his blood bag while replying to her. "Now, now. Just because you're an adolescence doesn't mean you need to bash me because I'm mature."

Caroline rolled her eyes and dropped her phone into her lap, giving up. She leaned forward and grabbed her abandoned bag from the end of the bed. While she was reaching, she muttered under her breath, "Well at least I haven't been around forever to make my head the size of Mars..." She pulled back and bit into her bag.

Klaus crossed his legs and leaned his head back as he raised his eyebrows at her words. "What was that, darling?"

Caroline smiled at him like she was admiring him. "I said you're so sweet," she lied in a girly voice, rubbing his knee.

"Mm-hmm," he hummed his sarcastic agreement with her, taking a drink of blood.

Caroline genuinely smiled to herself at their perfect play off one another. He just got it. Tyler would have started questioning whether she was really angry with him or not. But Klaus just went with it - because he would _know _when she was angry.

They sat in silence for a while, Klaus leaning on Caroline with his arm behind her, and Caroline sitting crossed legged, not really paying attention to anything but her thoughts. When she was about halfway through her bag, she stopped and frowned. "Where'd you get the blood?"

"Hospital," Klaus replied slowly.

"The hospital just handed the blood over to you?"

"Compulsion," he mumbled another one-worded response.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at the room. "Can you do anything impressive without compelling?" she asked. It had just then crossed her mind that he might only be all that powerful because he could compel people to do whatever the hell he wanted. "I mean, you compel everyone," she said her thoughts aloud while watching a couch from across the room. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't compelled me yet. That would have made getting my respect a lot easier. You even compelled Stefan in the past! Or, you know, you put people under your sire-bond. I don't think you've actually done anything miraculous just out of your 'badassness.'"

Klaus zoned her out as he closed his eyes. He could feel himself drifting off as he ignored Caroline's obvious attempts to get him rallied up. He let his empty bag slide out of his hand as his head turned to the side in limpness.

"Wait, you might have compelled me, and I just don't remember it... That is _so _something you would do. So did you?" She finally turned to look at him for the first time her entire monologue. "I mean you easily could have- Oh my God! You're not even listening!" she exclaimed, awakening him.

He frowned as she hit his stomach. "I'm exhausted, love," he told her with his eyes still closed.

"Did you ever compel me?" she repeated her question.

Klaus took a deep breath. "No. I won you fair and square."

Caroline laughed humorlessly. "Says the man that made a deal with me to start the relationship off," she retorted.

He only moaned in response, slipping away again.

Caroline smiled at his sleeping form. He looked so peaceful. So innocent. It was obvious at that moment that he was a person. He'd been human at one point. And Caroline could just never wrap her mind around that fact. This murderer used to laugh wholeheartedly and go through depression and long for certain things.

He didn't show any of that now. His depression had kind of taken over his entire life almost. He was only happy when she made it obvious she was having a good time. He was only happy when she was.

Caroline grinned cheek to cheek at that thought and had to fight to keep her excited squeal down. But she ended up not caring because he was practically asleep anyway. So she screamed lowly with the back of her throat, chuckling at the end and scooting down. She curled up into Klaus' side, and he subconsciously draped his arm around her in return. She bit her bottom lip in joy as she wrapped an arm around his torso, hugging herself to him. Klaus wanted her. Actually wanted her. This incredibly sexy man chased his tail trying to impress her, and her only.

She closed her eyes as she thought about them being together. She tilted her head and nuzzled it into his shoulder, moving his arm around her shoulders. She tried to ease her mind so she could drift into sleep just as Klaus had, but the feeling of him breathing next to her kept her mind racing. He loved her. He'd said it to her over and over again as he held her on that boat. He'd cared enough to compel hundreds of people just to give her one amazing evening. He'd even worn the bowler hat for her.

She looked up at his shut off face. His eyes closed, lips closed as he breathed steadily through his nose, arm limp around her while the other rested behind his head as another pillow. She leaned up and gently kissed him. When he didn't respond at all, she knew he was completely asleep and felt comfortable speaking to him.

"Klaus?" she whispered.

No response.

She bit her lips together in hesitation as she twiddled her thumb over her index finger. She opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it, suddenly not completely sure he was asleep. "I'm taking my shirt off..."

No response.

She barely chuckled and smiled at him. She rested her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him with raised eyebrows. "I love you, too," she whispered to him before kissing his cheek and resting her head right under his chin.

.

"I do hope you've managed to achieve something in the day I've allowed you to work," Elijah said as he trailed his fingers over Bonnie's desk.

Bonnie was getting angered with him; and she might have even shown it if she wasn't so exhausted. "Yes," she sighed. "I was up reading about it all. Apparently you can see her because she died with someone loving her." She looked down to the open book in front of her. "The reason a lot of people go crazy when they lose a loved one is because they see them just like you can see Elena. There's no cure. She'll go away sooner or later."

"Then why had Damon seen her and I hadn't? He had to trade me information in order for me to see her-"

Bonnie shrugged lamely. "Because he actually believed that she might come back. You just went on a killing rampage."

Anyone else would have ripped her throat out for saying that to his face, but he didn't care. He just stood there waiting for more information.

"So you're stuck with her memory - that's essentially what you're seeing. There's mention of a way to make her more realistic, but it takes a lot, so I think you're not going to get anywhere. You either stick with seeing her, or you try to forget her." Bonnie looked up to his face hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.

Elijah was watching her with a very strict expression on his face. "There's always a way to cheat death. This is one of those ways. You _will_ find a way to bring her back," he said threateningly.

"There isn't a way," she said strongly.

"Why would I see her if I wasn't able to bring her back from the hell that she's in?" he demanded, taking a step closer to Bonnie's chair she was in.

"It's called a curse for a reason, Elijah. It's not meant to be broken, and it's not meant to bring you hope." She watched him as he turned away from her in distaste, not wanting to hear her words. "It's meant to bring torturing upon you," she continued.

"Well, let's just say it's run its course with me and I've lost patience," he said in a deep voice. "Fix this, Bennet. Of you will be the last Bennet of the witch line."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Threatening to kill me isn't going to continue to work, Elijah. As of right now, I don't care about anything. Killing me would kind of be helping my case."

Elijah turned to give her a disrespected look. "Is that so?" he asked, giving her a chance to change her words. "You have nothing to still care about?" He straightened his tie and gave her a farewell smile as he turned to leave.

Bonnie felt her stomach tighten in dread. "Where are you going?" she demanded in a panicked voice.

Elijah reached the door and pulled it open as he answered her. "I believe I have more useless mortals to kill. Say, for instance, Tyler Lockwood."

And then he was gone, before Bonnie could say anything. Gone to kill the remaining people in Bonnie's life.

.

Caroline hadn't been able to sleep at all, even though she'd been laying with her eyes shut for nearly twenty minutes. She's slept the previous night, unlike the intelligent Klaus who was now going to waste the day with his mind in a different realm.

But she didn't have to try to nap any longer because her phone beeped at her, and she almost threw herself off the bed trying to get to it. And somehow - Klaus still didn't wake up.

She got her phone in her hand and then frowned at Klaus. "You're really out," she commented with chuckle. She silently laughed a little more when he just went on sleeping. She went back to her phone, clicking the power button and watching as the screen lit up and took it's sweet time loading.

But when it did finally load, and she saw she had new texts and voice messages, she almost yelled out "What?" in confusion. Twenty five voice messages, and thirty texts. What the hell? She'd been gone for three days; had hell broke loose?

She scrolled through her missed calls. A ton from Bonnie, a few from Jeremy, some from Stefan, one from Damon, and almost ten from an unknown caller. Her first thought was that she was being stalked by the unknown caller and that everyone else was trying to warn her. But her thoughts changed as she brought the phone up to her ear to listen to the most recent voicemail by the unknown caller, hoping to recognize the caller by their voice.

"Hey Care." Instantly, Caroline frowned. That sounded like - "It's Tyler again." Her mouth slowly fell open. Had Klaus let him go without telling her? "I just got back in town. Where are you?" _Back in town_? _Where are you_? He should be telling her that Klaus had had him locked up. That he was sorry he just disappeared all of the sudden, but that it was all Klaus' fault. That he was coming to rescue her.

But instead, he was questioning where _she_ was. No mention of Klaus, his kidnapper. He would never do that. Normally, he'd be playing the blame game. Unless there was no one to blame. But of course there was. Klaus had taken Tyler and hid him away. Klaus was to blame. Unless...

Unless there had never been a kidnapper. Which would mean Tyler left at free will - which would explain his 'getting back in town.' But that would also mean that Klaus had nothing to do with it. He didn't take Tyler. He never tortured him when she denied him of anything. When he told her that she better do something or he'd take his anger out on Tyler...there was never a Tyler to take anything out on.

"I don't know if you saw the news, but El-"

Caroline stopped listening and tore the phone from her ear. She quickly took the pen from the stand next to the bed and wasted no time to think as she threw her arm out and slammed the pen into Klaus' chest.

Instantly, Klaus was awake, groaning in surprised pain, and Caroline was off the bed, staring at him with a look of pure hatred and betrayal. "You son of a bitch."

Klaus struggled to breath with the pen in his chest as he frowned up at her. "What have I done?" he questioned. He took hold of the inch of pen still visible and pulled it out sharply, gasping in air as he quickly mended and was able to breath completely again.

He tossed the pen to the side as Caroline started talking. "It's what you _didn't _do!" she yelled. "Tyler was out of town this entire time!"

Klaus' breath stopped once again as he looked up at her in hatred for the boy that was causing so much trouble. Yes, he'd known this was coming, that Caroline would find out sooner or later, but he'd been hoping that maybe he'd be able to put together an excuse that she would listen to. But, of course, he wasn't going to get that chance. Now he had to just hope she didn't try to kill him. "So you'd have preferred I did lock him up in a cage?"

"I'd have preferred you didn't lie to me to get in my pants!" she exclaimed at him.

Klaus' eyes slowly got bigger in confusion and disbelief. "You think this - all of this -," he stood up, "was about bedding you?"

Caroline chuckled. "Well if you'd wanted something real, you would have tried to win me over the correct way," she retorted with so much sass Klaus had a hard time not letting himself get angry at her.

"What about last night?" he reminded. Caroline scoffed and walked down her side of the bed, and Klaus kept in step with her, so when she was no longer blocked from the door by the bed, she was blocked by him. "Was my confession of love just another way to 'get in your pants'?"

Caroline looked taken back by his words, but then quickly categorized them into her mind as she humorlessly laughed. "Oh yeah, how much of _that _was a lie?" She pulled her hand up and threw her phone right at him with as much force as she could, catching the voice of Bonnie coming out of it as it flew by her ear.

Klaus caught it in air and tossed it to the side. "None of that was a lie, Caroline. How could you think that?"

"_How could I th-_ Because you lied to me from the start!" She clenched her jaw shut and literally started shaking in anger.

Klaus quickly spoke up. "Tyler was the only lie I made up, love," he tried telling her.

Caroline frowned at him like he was insane. "And how much was based around him!? He was kinda a huge part of this!"

She went to take a step towards the door, but Klaus, nearly seven feet away, mirrored her actions to stop her. "What about the first time you kissed me? You decided Tyler didn't matter and that it was just you and me."

"And _that _was your chance to tell me the truth, Klaus." She shook her head at him. "You're still the asshole you were three months ago," she sneered as she walked forward, hitting his shoulder with hers as she stormed past.

But Klaus caught her arm and turned her around. "I may still be an ass," he said to her in a low voice, "but everything we've been through was completely and utterly real."

Caroline made a disgusted noise and shook her arm from him viciously. "You seriously think that's going to make this better for you?" she snapped. "You're a little dead to me right now."

"I'm dead to a lot of people, love."

Caroline held up her finger, pointing at him. "No. Do not call me that!"

Klaus tilted his head up to look at her, the way he always did to people he was trying to calm. "Caroline," he sighed. "Think about what you're doing. You're going to walk out that door and throw everything away. All the good times I've given you, all the words shared between us-"

"All the bullshit you've been feeding me," she added onto his list. She looked from the wall to his face, her lips in a straight line. She was seeing him like she'd seen him before all of this started. Before he made her feel like the only thing on the earth that mattered. She saw him as the Original Hybrid. Nothing special. He was just playing her. He had been from the start. "I'm not going to throw it away, Klaus," she hissed. "I'm going to translate it for what it really is."

Klaus licked his lips in a sudden rush of irritation. "Tyler was just a way to get to you," he said in a voice a little louder than before. "Everything from there was me having affection for you. A great deal of it, too-"

Caroline interrupted him and brought her hands up to empathise. "You don't have emotions!" she yelled at him. "You've been around for way too long! You're drained out of emotions. Nothing left but hatred, Klaus." She exhaled a laugh. "And I don't know what the hell made me think that you could actually want me!"

She turned again to leave, but Klaus flashed in front of her, on the verge of being angry with her. "I will compel you to listen," he threatened. But his threat was empty. He could never tell her what to do or say or think. But he said the words before he thought about what he was telling her.

"Do it," Caroline dared. "Prove just how much of a bastard you are." She breathed deeply through her nose. Her chin quivered as she felt too many emotions try to force their way out. Her eyes fell to his chest. She struck out and hit his shoulder. "Do it," she told him again.

He stood in front of her, not touching. He heard her breath quaver for a moment. His heart dropped. She was taking all of it the wrong way. She wouldn't listen to him, either. All he wanted to do was tell her that he loved her again, somehow tell her everything was pure and white. But as she lifted her eyes back up to his, looking at him through overwhelmed tears, he knew there was no going back to where they'd been just ten minutes ago, sleeping on the bed next to one another.

She hit his chest again. "Do it!" She was trying to make him mad. Trying to get a reaction out of him. But he didn't react. He just stood still, watching her. He took another shove. Another hit. Another violent lash by the breaking woman in front of him. And then suddenly she couldn't control her hands as she hit him and banged on his chest aggressively, tears threatening to fall.

"Just do it!" she cried at him, looking up at him finally and dropping her hands. "I'm just another pawn in your disgusting games. So play me, already! I obviously don't mean anything to you."

Klaus dropped his head and looked at her seriously. "You're not listening to me, Caroline."

"What is there to listen to?" she demanded. "You know, I finally thought I found someone who would do anything for me. Absolutely anything for me..."

"And I will." He took a small step closer to her, his chest barely touching hers. "Ask and I will provide," he tried to convince her everything was in good intentions.

Caroline shook her head. "No," she whispered. "No, if you cared you would have actually tried."

Klaus leaned down to look straight into her eyes. "I did," he said painfully. "You just don't seem to understand." He brought his hand up to cup her neck while he tried to catch her eyes, but she held them down. "Caroline, I'm obsessed with you," he said with force. He rested his forehead on hers. And finally, he felt her rage turn into sorrow. Now she would listen to him instead of acting on anger. She was letting go of her aggression and replacing it with vulnerance. "Please don't leave me after all we've built."

Caroline looked up to him. "And what did we build?"

Klaus looked back and forth between her eyes, shaking his head gently. "You built and gave me a sliver of my humanity back," he whispered. He exhaled a small chuckle. "I've let myself feel things I've been warding off my entire life... You're the one person I want to be with all the time."

Caroline bit her lips together as she shook her head. "I don't believe you," she said with little energy left. She felt like her heart had literally been turned to rock and was freezing her chest. She hadn't felt that since her dad left.

But Klaus wasn't leaving. She was. She could save herself from all of this if she just forgave it all and moved on. He really hadn't done anything. He'd done something she didn't approve of at first, but now...she was incredibly relieved to be with him. He adored her, and she loved that. And if she went and disposed of all of it, it wouldn't just be Klaus left with a broken heart. She most likely wouldn't get over it for a long time.

And when she went back home, what would she be leaving him for? Tyler? The boy she'd grown to just see as her high school sweetheart, and nothing more. Klaus was real. He gave her everything. And Tyler had left without feeling the need to tell her. And that was why she was with Klaus now, because of Tyler.

Now that Caroline was breathing regularly, she was quick to check her emotions and admit to herself that she couldn't just leave Klaus. So, she took a deep breath, swallowed away her tears, and-

"_...was buried today. I put your name on the guest list because I know you would have wanted to be there. And I don't know why you weren't." _Caroline frowned, as did Klaus, when they both accidentally listened to Bonnie's voice on the still going voice message. "_I'm really starting to think Klaus did make you come with him. And maybe he stole your phone, too. I don't know. But...if he made you miss her funeral, then I really don't think you know what you're getting yourself into." _She sniffled, and it was obvious she was crying. "_It was his family who did it, too. He most likely took you out of town as part of the plan." _

Caroline pulled her head from Klaus' to look at him with concern. "What is she talking about?" she asked in pure fear that he knew.

But he shook his head. He took himself from her and walked to her phone. Caroline watched him as he pressed buttons, followed the phone's instructions, and was able to play the message previous to the one they just witnessed. This one's date was stated to be left the day before.

"_Caroline, I don't know why you're ignoring us, but it's enough. I understand if you lost your phone, but I know you, and there's no way in hell you went a complete day without finding some way to check your messages."_ Caroline was watching Klaus' face. She knew something bad was about to be revealed, and she was absolutely terrified he was behind it. She felt like she was in the middle of one of those cheesy chick-flicks where something dramatic happens and all the girl can do is stare at the man in heartbreak.

But this wasn't a chick-flick. This was happening. These were her real emotions and her real heart that she could foresee being shattered. And there was nothing to do to stop it.

Klaus face stared at the floor. He felt it too. Except he probably knew what it was. That was why he wasn't looking at her. He was afraid to face the look in her eyes.

"_I know you're alive, I did a spell. So just stop ignoring us…" _Bonnie sniffled into the phone again. More crying as she thought about the problem.

Caroline curled her fingers into a ball, her stomach jumping around in anxiety, her palms sweaty, her eyes wet. Klaus finally looked to her, hearing her breath suddenly halt. He took in her closed eyes and her pale face. He knew from her frown that she was already regretting listening to the voice message just as much as he was. But he knew, that if there was any chance she would forgive him for everything, he needed to let everything be laid down now. Including this death that he was almost completely sure was-

"_Elena's funeral is tomorrow… Please don't miss it."_

* * *

><p><em><em>**I hope this wasn't too...whatever you think it was too much of. Review! Please! Make it your New Year Resolution - to review my story and tell me what you think X) haha**

**Love you guys for sticking with me this far!**


	22. The Surprises

**Viola! Ladies and Gentlemen! After three long months (even though one only had 28 days)! Chapter 22! Surprise!**

* * *

><p>"Caroline, wait!" Klaus yelled to her as he pulled open the front doors to the hotel. She was already clear across the parking lot, reaching his car. From the way that her shoulders were hunched over and her head hung low and her hand was up by her face, Klaus knew that her teary eyes from upstairs had quickly escalated into that feeling of emptiness everyone gets when they break down. He ran to her, standing between her and the car, hoping to get her to listen.<p>

She looked up at him through red eyes. Her face was, indeed, wet, and her eyes told him that the smartest thing would be to let her do what she wished. "Get out of my way," she growled.

Klaus didn't move. He knew she couldn't do anything too damaging to him, so he held his ground. "Let me take you back," he offered.

Caroline exhaled a breath she'd been holding and elbowed past him. "Yeah right. Like I want to sit through that incredibly silent car ride."

"If you go alone it will be just as quiet," he pointed out to her as she headed to the driver's door.

Caroline turned to look at him with her hatred. "But I'll be able to mourn in peace without thinking about the killer next to me!" she exclaimed behind a sudden new rush of tears. She felt them coming, about to tumble down her face. So she quickly turned back to the car and tried to pull open the door; but it was locked.

She pulled the door several more times, getting incredibly upset with it, before she gave up, turning around and leaning on the door as she buried her face in her hands. "Klaus, please," she whispered barely loud enough for human ears.

Klaus still stood on the other side of the car, watching her. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to sooth away the pain and kiss away the tears. But in her eyes, he was the murderer. He was responsible for Elena's death. And now she had in her mind that everything they went through was because he was distracting her from the horrible reality of what was going on in Mystic Falls. She now thought that he was a monster that had just used her.

But it was so much more than that. So different than what she thought. But there was absolutely no way to prove that to her. She hated him, and he couldn't fix it.

So, instead of making his situation worse and seeming like a complete ass, he walked over to her, stood by her side, took her hand, and placed the keys on her palm.

Caroline slowly looked at what he was doing, not at his face. She silently curled her fingers around the cold pieces of metal. She kept up her record of not even noticing he was there as she turned around quickly and got into the car.

She started the engine, paying no mind to the man outside her window, who was watching her with more of a broken heart than she had. She pressed her foot to the petal on the floor, and didn't even bother fastening her seat belt as the car lurched forward into action, surely leaving behind skid marks.

She ignored all safety protocols as she drove quickly away from the hotel, onto the empty road of that big town, and headed towards the interstate where they'd come from. She couldn't see anyone. There was no one around, and just because Klaus had told them they were royalty and that the town should be closed off from the public. That stupid trick had fooled her. She'd actually believed him.

Caroline looked in her rearview mirror, her eyes landing on Klaus' form as it got smaller and smaller. He watched after her as she rode away. Caroline forced her eyes back onto the road, trying to put him out of her mind. He meant nothing. She'd just been used by him. And only because he was convincing. She was such a fool. And even moments ago, she'd almost let herself believe his cover up story. But when she heard the voicemail, that made everything clear.

Klaus was still Klaus. The Original Hybrid that killed and did nothing but destroy and terrorize. He was nothing to love. Nothing to want. He could do neither, anyway. What had gotten into her? Was she so naïve that she thought he might actually love her? That he would change his entire life for her?

Caroline laughed at herself, shaking her head. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked herself out loud, smiling at herself. "You're kind of a dumbass," she laughed. "A dumbass with fake feelings." She chuckled again, feeling a tear roll down her face and over her smiling lips. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" she yelled this time, banging her hand on the steering wheel in anger.

And that was when she really started to break down. Her breath was suddenly hard to find, and her tears never paused. Nor did they ever stop on the entire ride back to Mystic Falls.

.

Klaus held his phone to his ear in anger as he listened to the ringing on the other end. As soon as the ringing stopped, he wasted no time getting straight to his point before the other end could even say hello.

"What in God's name did you do? We agreed to kill Katherine!"

"It was Kol who went against the agreement," Elijah informed his brother, taking on the same temper that Klaus was currently living in. "It was not my choice."

Klaus stormed down the road of the town he'd completely rid of residents. "You were in charge of him!" he snarled at his brother.

"Do not dare to make the assumption that I just allowed our brother to do this. If anyone should be in a rage, it is me," Elijah retorted.

"Put Kol on the phone," Klaus growled. "I have to inform him I'm going to kill him as soon as I get back," he barked into the small phone.

"I already have."

Klaus slowed down his pace and came to a stop. "You killed him..." he repeated. "With what!?" If Elijah had killed one of his siblings, that meant he really wasn't happy with them. And when he was in a foul mood, he didn't hurt to inflict pain - he hurt to kill.

"I killed him with the dagger, Niklaus. He'll be alive in..." he hummed in thought, "about another millenium."

Klaus scoffed in astonishment. "For someone who just lost his love, you seem awfully okay about it all."

"I assure you, brother, I am far from being 'okay' with all of this. Rebekah was lucky she made it out of my grasp alive."

"You went after our sister, as well?" Klaus demanded.

"She was involved in the car accident. She stood by and allowed Elena to die."

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "So it was Rebekah who killed her?"

"In a way," Elijah confirmed, but didn't elaborate.

"So you didn't kill her, why?" Klaus questioned.

"Elena stopped me."

Klaus frowned. What? What on earth was going on in that rubbish town? "Is Elena dead or not?" he demanded in a very strict voice.

"She is."

Klaus aggressively gestured his arm out, waiting for the obvious missing information, but Elijah couldn't see him, so the move was a tad ineffective. "Would you care to explain yourself, brother?" he practically yelled.

Elijah sighed. "I'm able to see Elena. I'm attempting to bring her back."

"Elijah," Klaus started. He couldn't believe his brother would do such a thing. He knew what happened if someone was brought back from the dead. He knew. "Must I remind you what happens if someone is-"

"Brought back from the dead? No. I remember just fine, thank you."

"Then what is going on in your head?"

"I've lived the past two thousand years of my life alone. I'm not going to let the one woman I love just leave me if it was against her will."

"She'll come back a demon!" Klaus growled. "You know this! Why would you risk that just to bring back a woman that will reappear in a couple of centuries?"

"That's the thing, isn't it, Niklaus? There will be no more doppelgangers."

"How will there not be any more-"

"Elena was the final child of the Petrova bloodline. She never gave birth. Therefore, the doppelgangers are now gone. Every single one of them."

Klaus hadn't even thought to consider that bit of information. He'd been only concerned with Caroline's heart being crushed. He looked around in pure anger. Nothing was going to his advantage. Nothing at all. He lost his doppelganger, so there would be no more hybrids. Elijah was heartbroken, so he would have to live another hundred lifetimes of listening to his brother grieve. And because he had taken Caroline out of town, she thought it was just a plan. He was now the devil to her again.

Klaus almost yelled out in the fit of his rage, but he managed to turn the anger into words. "What are you doing now, then!? Sitting around moping?" he snarled.

"Oh, no, brother. I wouldn't think to do anything like that," Elijah said in a calm voice. "I'm killing everyone that was involved in Elena's death, while forcing a witch to bring her back."

Klaus frowned. "You're bringing her back?" he repeated. "How?"

"I'm afraid the details are too various for us to discuss over a limited phone call," Elijah excused himself. "And I must go, unfortunately. I've unwanted beings to dispose of."

Klaus narrowed his eyes, racking his mind to answer who Elijah could have been killing. "Who? And for what purpose?"

"Like I said, I'm killing those who took part in Elena's death. I'm actually in the process of killing one right now..."

Klaus almost spoke up to tell Elijah to stop, but he was met with the sound of Elijah hanging up and the line going dead.

.

Tyler walked into his house, loosening his tie that he'd had on from the funeral. He'd spent the last two hours at the Grill, wasting himself with Jeremy. Matt normally would have been there, too, but no one knew where he was. He'd been there at the hospital for Elena when she died, but hadn't been at the funeral or anywhere else in Mystic Falls since.

Tyler closed his front door and pulled off his jacket, throwing it carelessly on the stairs. His tie followed the jacket, making a small pile of dirty laundry. But he didn't care. Why should he? Nothing mattered right now. Caroline was ignoring the world, Elena was dead, Matt was missing, and Jeremy was a suicide case again. Everything was falling to pieces and he couldn't help but feel like if he hadn't left without telling anyone, then things would be better.

His thoughts were distracting him from everything, including the man that stood in the doorway of the living room - clearly visible to Tyler. And his thoughts of despair were the cause of his inability to fight back when the unseen man attacked suddenly.

Tyler was being choked before he even got the chance to call out for his mother; and before he would have the chance to figure out who was behind him, his neck was snapped and his body fell to the floor.

Elijah straightened his jacket and stretched his neck. He looked at the boy in front of him, not a hint of regret in his eyes. He sighed. "Unfortunately, I won't have the chance to kill you, Lockwood," he informed the dead body. "My brother just won't approve. But, of course, that won't stop me from beating you to within an inch of your life."

.

The ground was cold. The dirt was loose. There was no one in sight. Caroline stood alone next to her best friend's grave.

She wasn't crying anymore. She couldn't wrap her mind around the image in front of her. A gray gravestone with the words "Elena Gilbert" encarved into the surface was sitting in the ground as if it belonged there. The patch of freshly turned dirt that laid out beside the headstone meant that Elena Gilbert's body had been placed under it. But that was impossible. She couldn't be...

Caroline shivered in the cold air as she looked down with glazed over eyes at the terrorizing message in front of her. She didn't really miss her best friend's funeral. She didn't miss her last words. She just couldn't have. This had to be another Elena Gilbert in Mystic Falls.

The were footsteps behind Caroline, and she didn't even have to look to recognize the familiar foot pattern.

"I'm so sorry..." Caroline said quietly.

She felt a hand rest on her back, rubbing her comfortingly. But Caroline didn't need to be patted or hushed in reassurance. She needed to be held by the only other person in her life at the moment.

Caroline turned, feeling sudden tears choke her up, and instantly wrapped her arms around Bonnie, not even bothering to try to control her composure. Bonnie didn't waste even a second as she returned the embrace, looking up just to avoid Elena's grave. "It's okay. I know," she whispered, not finding her voice.

Caroline buried her face in Bonnie's shoulder. "I didn't even know. I didn't have my phone. I missed everything!" she choked out.

Bonnie shook her head. "Stop," she said, "It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" Caroline cried. "I ran off. I'm the one that ditched you guys." She felt a tear roll out of both eyes. "Just because I thought I was going away with the man of my dreams."

Bonnie chuckled behind her own tears. She couldn't help it. She knew it wasn't what Caroline needed - to be laughed at - but...the man of her dreams? "Klaus?" she asked, like she was giving Caroline a chance to change her answer.

Caroline looked at the blurry grass from behind pools of tears in her eyes. "I know. I know, I'm an idiot," she said in a solid voice. "I can't stand the thought that I actually believed him. About everything! He was only using me," she said in a voice of hatred.

Bonnie pulled back, holding Caroline's shoulders and looking at her tear stained face. "You didn't know. Don't beat yourself up now," she tried to help.

"Bonnie, I'm not just going to let this go," she almost growled. She was so confused and angry and completely aggravated with herself that she couldn't control her tone. "Elena's dead!" she reminded.

"And how is that your fault?" Bonnie snapped back. "It's not. Please, Care, don't hate yourself. Please. I can't go through the pain of seeing another friend suffer," she said as her voice finally cracked.

Caroline's stomach knotted up and she could hardly breath. "Bonnie," she coughed out through her closed lungs. But that was all she could say, because her heart got the best of her and decided to course pain through her veins. Caroline sank to her knees, letting her mind go and allowing more devastation drain her of energy as she cried her eyes out against Bonnie.

Bonnie held strong, being the anchor for her now only best friend. She was only able to control herself because she was busying her mind with the options of bringing Elena back. She needed to. For Caroline's sake. For her own sake. And even for Elijah's. She was finally starting to understand that Elijah only has Elena. She's the first woman he's loved since Katherine; but Elena would never turn on him like Katherine did. Elena would stay with him forever.

And Bonnie was going to be the one to make that never ending love come back to life. She would save Elena and make sure she stayed alive.

.

Klaus slammed the door of the rental car he's stolen from the previous town. He stormed to the door of his own house. Elijah was going mad; he needed to stop him. He nearly broke the door as he forced it open. "Elijah!" he yelled straight away.

There was no answer at all, and listening, Klaus knew that there wasn't anyone in the house. He spun around, glaring out at the town from his doorstep. Elijah was out there making everything worse. He could be killing anyone, and he could be doing it in any place in that God-forsaken town.

No. ...No, that would be too hard. Elijah always gave people chances, even if it wasn't their concern. He wanted Klaus to find him. He wanted to give his brother the opportunity to save a life. And if that was the case, then he went straight where Klaus would know to check.

The forest on the outskirts of Mystic Falls. Exactly one mile behind Caroline's house. How Elijah would know to go behind Caroline's house was obvious - he wanted her to find what was going on as much as he wanted Klaus to jump to the rescue.

Which, for some reason, he did. Klaus was out of his house and heading for the forest without even a moment's hesitation. Klaus had killed tons of people in his life, as had Elijah, so why did he care now that another was about to be added to the list? Because he knew this one somehow connected to Elena's death? Or just because he didn't want Caroline even more upset with him? The answer was unknown, but his intention was obvious as he reached the trees in less than a minutes. Save someone.

.

Tyler opened his eyes only to find that he was tied up to a tree in the middle of the woods. His hands were wrapped around the trunk of a tree, and he couldn't feel his fingers. The ropes on his wrists had to be cutting off his circulation. The last thing he remembered was being knocked out by someone. Killed, to be more specific. He was most likely being held captive by some new villains in town. Or Klaus, the old villain.

But Tyler soon came to the realization that he had the wrong brother in mind when he saw Elijah walk into his blurry vision. "Elijah?" Tyler managed to croak out.

Elijah was calm, as usual, but had a tad of a glint in his eye that didn't register as good to Tyler. "Mr. Lockwood," Elijah said in turn.

Tyler struggled against the ropes around his wrists. "What are you doing?" he asked while he tugged and twisted.

"I believe you were part of the problem concerning Elena's death," Elijah said in his low voice.

Tyler frowned in completely shock. "What?! I had nothing to do with-"

"You drove past the crime scene," Elijah reminded him. "Surely you could have smelt the familiar scent of her perfume?"

Tyler shook his head. It was true; he had smelled something like Elena - but it was so far fetched and sudden that he'd thought nothing of it. So, why would he admit something horrible to Elijah if he wasn't even convinced of it himself? "No, I don't know what you're talking about."

Elijah took a step forward. "Of course you do. You know precisely of what I speak. And even if it hadn't clicked in your head that it was Elena, someone was still hurt and you could have helped," Elijah said in a disapproving tone.

"I was on my way home! The paramedics were already there, the scene was taken care of," Tyler tried to defend himself. But he only made it worse for himself.

"Taken care of?" Elijah repeated in a deadly tone. "Elena Gilbert died in that accident. I don't think the paramedics were enough, do you? Had you been there to help, you easily could have healed her of any injuries." Elijah stormed towards the boy on the tree and grabbed his neck tightly. "I have a list of reasons why you should die at my hand," he hissed.

"No, you don't," came a deep voice from behind the livid Original.

Elijah slowly took a deep breath. "Ah, Niklaus," he said while still watching Tyler. "So nice of you to join us."

"Let the boy go," Klaus ordered.

Elijah frowned slightly and turned to look at his younger brother. "And when did you become so affectionate towards the child that holds your lover's heart?"

Klaus sneered. "Affection is no where in the equation. As you said yourself, he holds the heart of Caroline, and if you kill him, she'll never forgive me."

The grip on Tyler's neck was released. He continued struggling against the ropes, willing his strength to be enough to break them, but he wasn't getting anywhere. At least not fast enough. He felt the ropes slowly giving in, but if Klaus suddenly turned on him, there was no hope.

Elijah looked at his brother with pure astonishment and disgust. "So the heart of a woman that doesn't even feel for you is more important than the revenge for the love of my life who _died_?"

"Would Elena want you to kill?" Klaus was quick to question.

"No, but she's not in control of my actions any longer. Saving Rebekah was one thing, but the boy responsible for her death-"

"He was not responsible!" Klaus barked in anger. "He's to blame just as much as I am."

Elijah started to slowly frown. But before he could question Klaus' sudden proclaim, he continued. "I drove by the car. I could have helped as well." Klaus took a step forward, forcing his pulse to stay low as he began to think of how to attack Elijah. In order to get the attention from Tyler, he'd have to become the target. "I knew Elena was in the crash, and I refused to help her," he made up.

Elijah almost attacked - almost. But the man had the knowledge and common sense to see through the lie. "Is that so?" he asked, placing his hands in his pockets. "If you're so quick to save this fool's life to protect Caroline," he started, pointing to Tyler, "what on earth makes you think I'll believe you allowed her best friend to die?"

That was the time for Klaus to recover from being found out and just start the fight, himself. But he didn't. He didn't because he knew that would make it obvious he was trying to distract Elijah from Tyler as he gradually got free. He didn't because he wanted Elijah to be angered before the fight. He didn't because he wanted to make Elijah realize what he was doing. He wanted, for the first time, to be the one with the upper hand when it came to words.

He wanted to make Elijah feel pain.

"Elena was Caroline's only reason for holding onto Mystic Falls," Klaus started in his calm voice, speaking the truth now. "Tyler was nowhere in the picture when the plan was set. Caroline was falling in love with me," he told Elijah, but knew very well that the message didn't go unnoticed by Tyler. The young boy frowned slightly and looked at Klaus with wide eyes. He honestly couldn't tell if Klaus was making things up, or if he was telling the truth. "If Elena died, Caroline would willingly run away with me, trying to abandon the pain," Klaus went on. "But now that she knows some hidden truths about Tyler's whereabouts, she's fallen back in love with him."

No matter how much it hurt Klaus to think about Caroline throwing away everything she'd done with him, he knew it was the truth. His months of paradise with her were over. What had he to lose?"

Elijah watched his brother for long moments, controlling his head, and ignoring Elena's presence to his right. "What is your intention, Niklaus?" he interrogated. "What are you trying to achieve? My grief? I'm afraid you're late to that score."

Klaus shook his head. "I'm sure you're in plenty of pain as it is, Elijah." Though the corner of his eye, Klaus saw Tyler slowly moving one of his arms up in front of him. He was no longer bound, but he knew better than to make a run for it now. Good. The idiot had at least a bit of common sense in him. "What I'm prompting you to do is put me out of my own misery."

A strong, menacing laugh erupted from Elijah's throat. "You impress me to no end, brother. You honestly think I'll allow you to be set free? No chance. And even if I _could_, you deserve to be in just as much agony as I."

"Very well," Klaus nodded. "If not for my heart, then for Caroline's. She feels for me," Klaus lied, "and if I die...she'll know just how much your disposition is wrought with sorrow."

Tyler's heartbeat quickened. Klaus could hear it. But what he didn't understand was why. Tyler surely knew that Caroline felt nothing for the monster inside Klaus, so why was his worry and panic quickening his heart? It was fast enough to sound like two sets of hearts and pulses.

Elijah shook his head. "No. If I kill this boy, you'll both be in pain. Why spare any happiness?"

Klaus saw it before it happened. He knew just from two thousand years of seeing it over and over that Elijah was moving to hurt Tyler. Not kill, oh no, he had to injure the boy first. If Klaus had been a second slower he wouldn't have made it in front of Tyler, saving him from Elijah's blow to his knee. "You're not wise to stop me," Elijah growled, quickly losing his patience.

"I cannot let you hurt the boy," Klaus responded. He felt the fear and tension radiating off of Tyler from behind him.

"If I have to go through you as well, then by all means..."

Klaus quickly charged forward against Elijah's attack, throwing them both away from Tyler. Klaus felt his start to burn and knew he was as close to becoming an angry wolf as Elijah was to going completely vampire on him. But still they fought. Elijah had his brother against a tree while Klaus' nails gripped into his neck.

The common sense that Tyler had had moments ago vanished now as he watched the fight unfold. Klaus wished to call out to the boy to escape, but he knew it would only turn Elijah's attention. He needed to just focus on taking Elijah down easily - a task that was incredibly difficult as Elijah's mind was full of revenge.

Klaus shoved off the tree and struggled to get Elijah's grip off of his chest. He felt the fingers break his skin, though, and he knew he was losing control. Elijah was going for his heart, and there was nothing he could do but make the process slower.

But right when Klaus felt Elijah's fingertips grind further against his muscles, he saw Tyler flash up behind him and snap his neck. The restraint in Elijah's body vanished and his body went limp as he fell to the ground. Klaus caught his breath and felt his skin start to mend instantly. He swallowed hard and looked up to Tyler-

No. Caroline. She stood before Klaus with a stunned look on her face. She'd come out of nowhere and just stepped right into the fight. That was why Tyler hadn't ran. He'd seen Caroline and became as useless as he'd always been.

Caroline's gaze lifted from Elijah's body to Klaus' eyes. She almost spoke, almost, but she was taken off guard by Tyler flashing in between her and Klaus. "Caroline!" he exclaimed. "Oh my God, Caroline." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

She stumbled back once, not responding positively to the hug. While Tyler clung to her like his life depended on it, she only brought her hand up to rest on his back, staring straight at Klaus. He'd saved Tyler. She'd smelled both Klaus' and Tyler's scent and was so sure Klaus had intended on killing the younger hybrid...

But she hadn't been expecting him to save Tyler's life. And now that he had, Caroline swore she saw a hint of regret in Klaus' eyes. Klaus had allowed Tyler to live, and now he thought she was going to go running back into her old lover's arms and live on like they had before he ever left town. But Caroline had different plans. She couldn't just abandon Klaus and move on with Tyler after _everything_. She felt what real happiness was like, and she wouldn't leave that for anything.

So, without even taking her eyes off Klaus', Caroline stepped around Tyler. He slowly let her go, confused by what she was doing, but it all made sense when the second his hands were off her, she ran into the dazed Klaus.

She wrapped her arms around Klaus' shoulders and wasn't careful not to hurt him with her grip. He wasted absolutely no time engulfing her in his arms, closing his eyes and breathing in relief. He thought she wanted nothing to do with him. He thought she would never look at him again. He thought he finally had her figured out. Yet there she was, surprising everyone.

Including Tyler.

* * *

><p><strong>Ahhhh yes. Lovely ending, wouldn't you say?<strong>

**I kid, I kid. Tis not over. I think there to be...a few more words to add to this tale. Some heartaches and some heartfelt goodbyes are to come...**


	23. The Devil Wears Henley

**So someone asked me to update this before the new episode (416)... Does updating it three and 1/2 hours before the show airs count?**

* * *

><p>Tyler frowned as he watched his girlfriend bury her face into the neck of the man that ruined his life. What was she doing? Her arms were meant to be wrapped around him, not Klaus.<p>

Klaus lifted his hazed eyes from the ground up to Tyler's face. He didn't just look confused, he also looked like he was going to kill the younger hybrid. Tyler had expected some sort of smug grin from the Original, but he was just given a death stare, as if Caroline were still obsessed with _him _and not the man she was truly running to.

Klaus' arms loosened from the tight hold he had on Caroline, and she slowly pulled back. "What are you doing?" Klaus murmured in a low voice to her, turning his serious look on her.

Caroline didn't answer him. She didn't even try to form words. She could only stare at him in uncertainty, yet determination.

Tyler took one step forward. "Caroline?"

She responded to him, though she looked like nothing besides Klaus was reaching her mind. She looked over her shoulder as she turned to focus on the last speaker. Tyler stared at her in concern. "Where have you been?"

Caroline snapped out of her trance at those words. She frowned at him, questioning him. "Where have _I_ been?" she repeated. "You're the one that ran away."

Tyler shook his head, about to give his giant explanation. Or at least Caroline had been hoping for something of the kind. "I left town for a while, I meant to tell you," was all he said.

Caroline scoffed. That was it. He wasn't going to say where he'd been or even why. "Well, you didn't," she snapped, in no way ready to be understanding to him. "And while you were off ignoring me, I was off begging him," she pointed to Klaus, "to let you go, because I was sure he'd taken you captive."

"I'm sorry," Tyler added onto his plea. "I know I should have told you."

Caroline let her jaw drop in shock as he continued to just...brush her off. Continued to take everything for granted. "You're sorry? And you should have? You are kidding, aren't you?" she demanded. He just responded to her with a confused expression. Caroline chuckled in disbelief, nodding her head, taking in everything she never thought would happen. "Well, if we're playing _that _game..." She licked her lips and repositioned her weight onto her other leg. "Tyler, I'm sorry, too," her tone was mocking, and anyone could tell she was about to say something to smack him in the face. "I'm sorry I went off looking for you instead of just knowing that you left all of the sudden." Her tone was mockingly upset. She knew he wanted her to look distraught about everything, so she was giving it to him - only it was obviously fake. "And I know I shouldn't have fallen in love with Klaus, but you know what? _Shit _happens!"

Klaus' gaze was glued to her, both in worry and surprise, and even a bit of disappointment. This wasn't the way he'd wanted her to admit her feelings about him. Not when she was using it against someone else. Not when the words weren't being said from the heart, or to his face.

Tyler didn't look as shocked as he did mad. "You're in love with him?"

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Oh, this is surprising? Well, so was you running away to do what the hell it was you were out doing. The day you up and left was last day you were going to talk to that Caroline. The Caroline that had no idea what the world really held. But now that I do, I know that the so-called love that we had was complete shit compared to what I've already just _barely _touched."

"I don't understand," Tyler admitted. "You went begging a murderer to set your boyfriend free, and you end up loving him?"

"Is that seriously all you're getting out of this?" she scoffed. She shook her head in disbelief. All she wanted was to see that he understood what she was trying to get across to him. But he was too thick headed to even try to open up to the idea that he might not be what she wants.

No, scratch that. He won't open up to the thought that he blew it. _It was her fault because she fell for someone else._ Well, she did, so what was the point in hanging around waiting for him to approve?

She looked down at Elijah. "We should go," she said, more so to Klaus than to Tyler. "He'll be awake soon."

Klaus motioned for her to go without him. "He needs to stay down. I'll take him to my house, dagger him properly."

Caroline frowned at him. "Why?"

"Can't have him running around with bloodlust on his mind, now can we?"

"Like you care," Tyler butt in.

Caroline spun around with a growl in her voice. "He does, actually!"

"Caroline," Klaus said, trying to sooth her. "Go home, get some rest. Don't pay mind to his mocking words."

Tyler took two steps forward. "Don't tell her what to do. You don't know her."

"Don't I?" Klaus snapped back. He walked forward as well, showing Tyler just what he looked like when he tried to stand up to others. "I know that she believes you think only about yourself."

Tyler shook his head. "She easily could have told you that."

"You didn't even listen to what I said," Klaus frowned at the younger boy. "All that matters to you is that you win the argument."

"Winning is all you think about, too, Klaus," Tyler snapped, "or you wouldn't have tried to win her from me."

"I won her from you because I actually know how to give her happiness!"

"By ruining her life? Way to go there. She probably secretly hates you for everything you've done. Did you compel her to deal with you?" Tyler continued speaking, getting straight in Klaus' face.

"No," Klaus answered lowly. "She moved on from you and fell for me all on her own. I hardly said a thing."

Tyler, clenching his jaw shut, shoved Klaus away from him, putting about five feet distance between them. "You're full of shit, Mikaelson," he growled.

Caroline showed up right in front of Tyler and threw his head backwards, planting him on the ground. "Get over yourself, Tyler," she glowered down at him.

Tyler frowned up at her in a rage. "What have I done? I'm not being selfish at all."

Caroline laughed and Klaus shook his head. "Yet when she said she found someone else, you did not question if you had done anything to upset her, you immediately demanded why you weren't good enough," Klaus snapped back.

Tyler's mouth was agape as he realized that was exactly what had happened. "That isn't the same-"

"That is exactly the same, Tyler," Caroline hissed down at him. "You're just too blind to realize it," she mumbled. She paid him a few more seconds of disapproval before she turned and started walking away, back towards the silence of her room.

Klaus picked up Elijah's body and, without any more words towards Tyler, flashed out of the forest and towards his house, not caring about anything but Caroline's emotions. If keeping Bonnie and the rest of the idiots in Mystic Falls safe was what was going to keep Caroline's heart from more blows, than that was exactly what he would do.

.

Bonnie looked up from her book when she heard the front door open. Her stomach clenched with dread. Elijah was back. He'd allowed her to come to his house to search through the many books of witchcraft he had, and he'd wanted something when he got back...but she had nothing. All these books were telling her was the same things she'd read from everything else back at her grandmother's house. He was most likely going to kill someone now.

And as the footsteps got closer, she saw the shadow of a figure carrying another. He had killed. Another friend of hers was dead. She almost broke out in tears all over again, without even seeing who the victim was.

So when Klaus rounded the corner, he stopped in his tracks and frowned at Bonnie's tear filled eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Bonnie stood up from her chair suddenly and cleared her throat. "Is that Elijah?" she asked.

Klaus sighed and kept walking, speaking as he did so. "I'm daggering him. If you're here on his accord, you may leave."

Bonnie frowned and walked to where Klaus had gone. "Wait, you're killing him?"

"For my reasons and my reasons only," he answered her as he laid Elijah's body down on the table of one of his art rooms. He had the dagger and ash in his room, but he needed to watch his brother to make sure he didn't get up. "Upstairs, in my cabinet beside the bed, fetch my ash and dagger," he instructed Bonnie.

She stood there for a few seconds. "Wait, you trust me?"

Klaus turned over his shoulder to look at her. "Absolutely not. But if you try to run or do anything of the sort, I'll leave Elijah unattended and then you'll be the one with problems."

Bonnie pursed her lips, knowing his words to be true. "Upstairs?"

"First room on the right," he added, content with their small little debate.

It took Bonnie nearly two minutes to find his room, take the objects from the cabinet, admire his drawings she'd never seen before, and get back down to him. "You draw," she informed him.

"You get in people's business," he retorted, taking the dagger and ash bottle from her.

She bit her bottom lip while she watched him open up the little bottle and dip the dagger into it. "How many pictures of Caroline are there?" she asked, butting into his personal life.

"None are just lying around my room, so I can only assume you went rummaging through my belongings," he said, looking at her accusingly.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him. "You draw. You're also obsessed with Caroline; I can only assume there's tons of pictures of her."

Klaus snickered under his breath and slowly pressed the dagger down into Elijah's chest. "You, dear witch, really should leave people's relationships alone."

Bonnie held a stern face. "Yeah, well Caroline's one of my only friends now, and I want to know everything that happens with her."

"In that case, you should be interrogating your friend Tyler. He seems to be slowly getting to Caroline more and more."

"Has Caroline even seen him since she got back?"

Klaus gave her a 'now what do you think' look. "Use your head." Then he frowned as to why he was speaking to her and sighed. "You can leave now. I believe I mentioned that before."

Bonnie frowned. "Do you even know why I'm here?"

"No. Nor do I care."

"I was supposed to bring Elena back from the dead," she told him, despite his negative pushing. "My friend is dead. The least you could do is let me make my own decisions."

Klaus held his hands up. "You wish to stay lounging around my house, be my guest. Elijah's body is staying there, and I'm going upstairs. The only reason I tell you to leave is because you have no business here."

Bonnie almost said something again, but he spoke before she could. "Never mind. I'm leaving again. Caroline needs me." It was like he all of the sudden decided he needed to be with her.

"Where is she?"

"At her house," he answered and he turned to leave, remembering he still had his jacket on.

"So why does she need you?" She followed.

"Why do you need friends?" he asked in answer to her while he pulled open the door, waiting for her to exit first.

"You're not her friend."

"No," agreed Klaus. "I'm her lover."

.

Caroline sat down on the end of her bed. Her room looked dark compared to what she remembered. She didn't want to be there. She didn't want to be anywhere. She just wanted someone to be with her. To hold her.

But the person that showed up, she could have done without.

"I need answers," Tyler declared as he just walked right through the door.

Caroline closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "Tyler, what more is there to explain?"

"Everything!" he snapped. "I was gone for just six months!"

Caroline chuckled from the bed, staring down at her feet. "Exactly. I was just supposed to sit back and wait?"

"That would have been better than going out and fawning over some rich bastard-"

"Rich bastard?" Caroline repeated as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "It was Klaus. It wasn't random, or absurd, or crazy in any way. I went to him because I was going to save you. It's not my fault that he grew on me in the long process."

"Why didn't you just stop trying after a while?"

Caroline slowly looked up at him, shocked and offended. She nearly scoffed at his words. Why, he asked. "Because that's what you do when you love someone, Tyler. You fight for them." She stood up from the bed, turning to face him completely. "But apparently you wouldn't have done the same for me."

"If it means playing along with Klaus' games for that long, no, I wouldn't have. I would have tried to find you by myself."

"I did," she hissed. "But I didn't find you anywhere. Because you were _gone_!"

Tyler frowned at her. "Honestly, are you only upset with me because I left without telling you?"

Caroline licked her lips and bit them shut, thinking of how to answer him. "No, Tyler. I'm upset that it took me this long to finally get over you. I'm upset with you because Bonnie told me you've been back for a few days now, and all you did was call me." He opened his mouth to argue, but she continued. "I understand that's all you could do, but..."

She chuckled at herself. What was she trying to say? That's literally all he could have done. What did she expect? Him to go and find her? That's what she had been expected to do, and she didn't. So what was she complaining about in that area?

Oh, right, Klaus would have actually stopped at nothing to find her. That's why she expected the same from Tyler. But she shouldn't. They were two completely different people.

"Okay, fine, you got back in town. Good. I'm glad you're back," she nodded, finally trying to open up and be realistic with him. "But things aren't picking back up from where you left them. I'm leaving town. With Klaus," she announced without even thinking about the news herself. She didn't need to think about it, though. She knew Klaus would run with her, so what was stopping them?

Tyler put his hands in his pockets. "You're going to skip town with Klaus?" he asked, giving her the chance to change her answer.

But she had absolutely no intention of changing her answer at all. "Yes. Klaus and I will be leaving as soon as possible. Is there a problem with that?"

"There's a ton of problems with that. None of them which you'll listen to."

"So then I guess it's the end of the conversation," she concluded.

"Now wait a second," he said, holding his hand up. "I have to know...Did I do anything?"

Caroline frowned at him. Where was this coming from? He would never ask anything like that.

And then she realized, he was only asking because Klaus had pointed out he should. She forced a smile at him, begging herself to stay in a pleasant mood. "No, Tyler. You did nothing. I'm just moving on, alright?"

He nodded, trying to just let the situation settle for the time being. "Is there anything I can do to stop it?"

She looked down. "No. There's not."

Tyler took a deep breath. "Okay then." Caroline looked up as he nodded. "Well, for now...don't expect anything from me. I'll be off mending a broken heart," he said quietly as he turned to walk out of the room.

"Are you shutting me out? Completely?" she asked, feeling her heart being clenched by a cold hand.

Tyler pulled on a thinking face as he looked at her for a split second. "Yeah," he 'decided.' "That's exactly what I'm doing," he concluded before walking out of the house in a huff.

Caroline could only stand in her spot, frowning at the empty doorway. She'd allowed him to come into her room and demand more answers, and she'd responded with a smile on her face, not once giving him the cold shoulder that he was now. She'd understand him needing time. But he just locked her out of his life. For good.

.

Klaus walked into the house, listening for Caroline. He intended to catch sound of her heartbeat, or her breathing, or even her voice. But her crying was the first thing that hit his ears. And he was up the stairs and in her doorway in seconds.

Caroline sat on the ground, leaning on the end of her bed, resting her head on her knees. She wasn't sobbing as he'd feared, but she did have two tear trails running down her cheeks. She lifted her head to look straight ahead at the wall when she heard him enter. "Can we run away together?" she asked before either one of them even greeted the other. "For real, this time?"

Klaus walked in further, stopping by her side and slowly sitting on the ground next to her. "If we need to."

Caroline shook her head as he leaned back onto the bed. "No. I only want to do it if you want to, too."

Klaus nodded. "Of course I do, love."

Caroline leaned her head back on the mattress, stretching her legs out in front of her. "What have I gotten myself into?" she pondered aloud.

Klaus licked his lips and nodded his head to the side. "If you think about everything, it isn't too terrible. You lost an ass boyfriend, you lost a friend, you no longer have to fear anything because I'll be here protecting you, and you're leaving this town for good."

Caroline shook her head. "Those are all negatives. I lost a friend, not just an ass boyfriend. And then another friend - Elena - because she's dead. I didn't have anything to fear in the first place because you've always been there to protect me, and this town is my hometown. I'm going to miss it."

Klaus looked at her sad face. He hated seeing her like that. Which is why he'd given her the gift. And that was why he'd carried it with him everywhere in case she needed it. Like now.

He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a very thin, but wide box. "Here," he offered.

Caroline frowned at the box in his hand. "What is it?"

"The headring I gave you earlier," he answered, taking off the lid and pulling the red jewels out. "Put it on."

Caroline chuckled. "Thanks, but I'm not in the mood to be pretty."

"It will shut off all emotions," Klaus informed her, still holding it out to her. Her head lifted to frown at him. "You'll lose all feeling," he added.

"Why would I do that?" whispered Caroline.

"Because you're in pain." He lowered his hand a bit, feeling he was going to have to explain how everything was slightly his fault. "You've lost everything."

"I got you, didn't I?" she asked, looking truly confused, as if that should have been an obvious one to him.

Klaus watched her closely. "You still take that as a positive gain?"

Caroline scoffed in slight offence. She lowered his hand for him, not accepting the headring. "Klaus," she said slowly, making sure she had his eyes locked onto hers. "I'm in love with you." There, Klaus thought, now the words had been said to his face, and he could actually start believing them. "Despite literally everything that keeps flying at me, the thought of you is what keeps me from taking away the pain once and for all. It was hoping the pain would make me hate you, but it's just making me need you more."

She wrapped her fingers around his, moving her other hand to clutch his with both. "You're a monster," she informed him, "...but I can't fall out of love with you."

Klaus smiled sadly. "Give it time. You'll get there eventually."

Caroline squeezed his hand tightly as she growled in irritation. "No," she told him sternly as she moved to lean on her side, facing him completely. "Klaus, listen to me. I love you. Stop doubting that. Okay?" Klaus made to shake his head, but Caroline growled. "Okay?!"

Klaus smirked and looked at her in surprise. "Well, if you say it like that..."

She laughed, then leaned back onto the bed. "I mean it. I love you. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move on with our lives."

Klaus raised an eyebrow at her. "And where will we be moving?"

She slowly smirked and turned her head to look at him. "Rome. Or, you know, Paris." He smiled at her. "Oh! No, Tokyo!" she exclaimed, excited.

Klaus laughed. "Alright. I get it."

Caroline giggled and reached up to wipe the tears off her face. "The sooner we leave, the better."

"In a rush?" he asked.

"To move on with my life instead of crying my eyes out? Yes."

"Sometimes you have to cry," he said, giving her a concerned look. "Crying is a feeling of being numb. How can you truly feel if you don't know what if feels like to not feel at all?"

Caroline frowned at him, taken away at his words. "Are you secretly an old man with a jillion life quotes in your back pocket?"

Klaus smiled at her. "I'm serious. You can't enjoy life if you don't take a break and let everything out once and awhile," he said gently, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.

Caroline smiled, her sorrow showing in her eyes once again. He knew better than anyone how to handle emotions. He'd been doing it for years, after all. She leaned sideways and rested her head on his shoulder, and he instantly moved closer, wrapping his arm around her. "We'll leave when you're ready," he whispered to her. "Until then, I'm always here."

"I know you are." She smiled to herself. "But for how long?" she tested.

Klaus leaned over, kissing the top of her head. "I'll be here until the day I die, whether you want me to be, or not."

Caroline wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her head into his chest. "I'll always want you next to me."

"You can't promise that," he mumbled into her hair.

Caroline looked up at him, seriousness sketched all over her face. "Yes, Klaus, I can." She reached a hand up to rest on the back of his neck, her fingers ruffling into his hair slightly. "Seriously. After everything we've been through already, it's going to take one hell of a catastrophe to tear me away from you."

"I hate to tell you this," he started, "but catastrophe tends to be at every corner of my life."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well then it'll have to be one hell of a catastrophe made by the devil, himself."

Klaus smirked down at her. "I am the devil."

She smiled, staring into his crystal blue eyes. "Then there's nothing to worry about."

Klaus chuckled at her and leaned down, slowly kissing her, hearing her breath cut short in her chest and her heartbeat pick up. Her fingers flexed on his neck and pulled him ever so slightly closer. This was what he needed to feel - someone wanting him. All his life he'd always been chasing the affection of other people, wishing that someone would show the kind of attention to him that he longed for.

And now here was this young blonde girl who could stand her ground against Hitler himself and tell him how incredibly screwed up he was. And she was holding the man that had killed more people than there were stars in the sky. She knew what kind of monster he was. She knew all the wrong he had ever done. She knew he would do it again, and still she kissed him with love. Kissed him like she couldn't get enough. Like he was everything she ever wanted. Niklaus Mikaelson - somebody's everything. A sentence he never thought to even imagine.

But now it was true. And as he pulled her onto his lap, holding her bridal style on the ground, kissing her tear stained face while pulling her chest into his, he knew that there was, indeed, nothing to worry about. He would let absolutely nothing take away this feeling. His Caroline. The love of his life.

.

"So he's just going to stay dead?" Bonnie questioned, crossing her arms.

"Until you die yourself," Klaus confirmed from right next to Caroline. "That way Elena can fade the way she's supposed to, as well."

"What if he does come back?" she asked, concerned.

"He won't. Trust me." He folded his hands behind his back, waiting for anything she might oppose to.

"That's a big request from an enemy," she remarked. Yup, there was the opposing.

Caroline took a deep breath, thinking. "Fine, if Elijah comes back, I'll return to protect you and won't leave until the problem's over," she compromised.

"How will that reassure he'll be killed again?" checked Bonnie, searching for all loopholes. And that one was pretty big. Just because Caroline was back doesn't mean Elijah still won't try to kill them all.

Klaus stared at Bonnie in a slightly irritated stance. He obviously had spoken with Caroline and still didn't like what they'd agreed on. "She won't return to me until I fix it."

Bonnie frowned at the two. "Wait...So...you're leaving with him?" she asked Caroline, who nodded in confirmation. "This is serious..."

"I plan on staying with him, too," added Caroline, making sure there wasn't any doubt about her and Klaus.

"You hated him just three months ago."

Caroline shrugged. "Things changed. Spend time with someone and you'll actually get to know them."

"It's Klaus. Getting to know him couldn't possibly have made you see the good in him," she said, even though he was standing right there.

Klaus tilted his head at her in slight offence. "Never make assumptions, darling."

Bonnie stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to Caroline again and bit her lip. "You're sure?"

"No," Caroline said matter-of-factly. "Not at all. But what have I got to lose?"

"You might get tired of him," Bonnie pointed out.

Caroline laughed. "Get tired of the only person who would buy the world for me, and just so happens to be a mass murderer that I'll have to keep in check?" she clarified. Then she shook her head and reached for Klaus' hand. "I'll never get tired of him. I'm on the road to a never ending adventure."

"Adventure?" Bonnie repeated. "More like living with the devil."

Caroline smirked and shrugged. Just by standing next to him, holding his strong hand, feeling the heat of his body radiate onto her, and listening to his breath hum though his body, she knew she couldn't be happier with him. Who gave a damn about what others thought? She was with the exact person she wanted to spend all her time with. _She'd be living with the devil_.

"He'll be my devil."

* * *

><p><strong>Who's got amazing readers that I love and adore with everything I've got!? Me. Obviously. I just wish I could find each and every one of you and hug the hell out of you! You guys are truly amazing and without you, this would have ended in 2016, if it even got that far. I love you guys so much! <strong>


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